Year end meme...2020
Dec. 31st, 2020 09:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat2020 is a bit of a blur, and I don't remember a lot. This is what stuck.
STUFF I WATCHED OR READ
movies
[Weirdly I didn't watch that many or remember them...]
Let Them Talk - Stephen Soderburgh's film about a "successful" literary novelist portrayed by Meryl Streep, whose agent convinces her to take the Queen Mary 2 to Britain to accept a literary prize. She agrees on the condition of dragging along two estranged college friends (Candice Bergen and Diane Wiest), and her nephew (Lucas Hedges). The film is mostly improvisational, with a plot outline, character outline, and hand-held camera work. It is compelling in a way, and haunted me afterwards in what it says about friendship, relationships, and writing.
The Old Guard - Cherlize Theron's movie about a bunch of immortal warriors who are struggling with their immortality and its price. In some ways it felt like a great set-up for a sequel. Uneven, but some good moments here and there, and a few nice surprises.
Harriet - saw it this year, was last year's film. About Harriet Tubman.
Emma - not as good as expected. I was disappointed. But the styles, and cinematography was interesting. It's the last movie that I saw in a movie theater.
Soul - possibly the best animated film I saw this year. And by far the most memorable. About a black musician in Harlem, NYC, who dies before he gets his big break - on his way to the great beyond, escapes to the before-life and finagles a way to get back to his body and his life on earth. It doesn't go the way you expect, and has all sorts of fun surprises.
Hamilton - the filmed version of the musical - possibly the best film of a staged musical that I've seen. Intense, and remarkably topical.
The Prom - It's not that bad, but it fails in a lot of ways it shouldn't. And I think it may have worked better on stage. About a young lesbian girl who wants to take the girl she loves to her prom, but the head of the PTA (who also happens to be the girl's mother) is standing in their way. A bunch of narcissistic Broadway Stars descend on her and the town in an attempt to fix things in order to make themselves look good. Part Broadway satire and part heartfelt message film, it kind of fails at both.
Wonder Woman 1984 - if you love 1980s superhero flicks this may be for you. If not? Don't bother.
The Boys in the Band - the film adaptation of the Tony Award winning play about a bunch of gay men attending a birthday party in the late 1960s. The party ends up being crashed by the college roommate of the host - and what results is a painful and wrenching night of confrontations and secrets being revealed. Notable in that all the actors portraying the roles are gay.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - Chadwick Boseman's last film role - based on August Wilson's award winning play of the same name. Also a gut-wrenching play - this time about racism in the 1920s and 30s North. It takes place in a recording studio and is based on the real recording session of Ma Rainey and her band. Viola Davis plays Ma Rainey, and is almost unrecognizable.
Last Christmas - Emilia Clark's film about a young Yugoslavian immigrant, working in a Christmas shop - who figures out the true meaning of Christmas with the help of a young man she meets. It has some nice twists and is not what most people think.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 - Aaron Sorkin's film about the trial of the seven protestors "allegedly" responsible for the riots that took place in Chicago in 1968 during the Democratic Convention. In reality they arranged anti-war protests, that due to the mishandling of the police and local government became unnecessarily violent. The trial exposes the levels of racism in our society.
Disclosure - a documentary film about the transgender experience in film and television.
CATS - possibly the worst musical film adaptation I've ever seen or will ever see. It defies description. Let's just say, once you see - you'll never think of Ian Mckellan, Judi Dench, Taylor Swift, or Idris Elba the same way again...
Rise of Skywalker - better than expected. It helps if you go in with low expectations. Would have helped if it connected in some way to the previous two films (it doesn't). But enjoyable in spite of itself.
Okay, I can't think of anything else. I'm sure I saw other things. Ponders.
New Mutants - eh, I liked it better than most. But it didn't live up to the trailers. It was supposed to be horror, it didn't really come across as all that scary. And it was a bit cliche in who the villain was, and why. But the casting of the mutants was spot on.
Ford vs. Ferrari - loved it. Better than expected, I keep thinking I saw it last year though?
shows
new for me in 2020:
* The Witcher - loved this. It's based on a series of Russian fantasy novels and novellas, featuring a monster hunter in a war torn world. Very Russian in folklore and concept, and features Eastern European monsters and Russian folklore. Notable for the exceedingly strong female roles and their complicated backgrounds. Weirdly the character who gets the least exploration is the male lead. Henry Caville beautifully plays him, but the two female leads are the main attraction here. A surprise in how it subverts its own genre in providing strong female characters.
* The Queen's Gambit - also loved. It and The Witcher are vying for favorite series of the year. It is about a female chess champion - following her love affair with chess as a child through her twenties. And the love affair in the film is between the heroine and chess. Standout performances by Ana Taylor Joy as the heroine, and everyone else.
* Great Pottery Throw-Down - British reality series, in somewhat the same format as the Great British Bake Off, but with potters. I like it better. You get to see them make ceramic toilets, sinks, sculptures, and a mad hatter tea set.
* Avatar: The Last Air-Bender - a cartoon from the early 00s, which works really well now. Beautifully rendered, with rewarding characterizations.
* Bridgerton (not yet finished) - three episodes in, and I'm loving it. It's a Regency Historical Romance come to life - adapted from Julie Quinn's best-selling series apparently. They've adapted the first book - the Duke and I. But with a twist - many of the Dukes and the Queen herself are black. Also we see explicit sex scenes, and modern pop songs are rendered through violins and instrumental adaptions. It's new, it's vibrant, it's not historically accurate - and comments on class, history, race, and gender in a biting and new way.
* Staged - a biting and at times satirical, offbeat comedy about rehearsing a play during a British LockDown with David Tennant and Michael Sheen in the lead roles, and camoes by Samuel L. Jackson and Judi Dench among others.
* The Go Wrong Show - about a theaterical troop in London who continuously screws up their staging of plays in front of live audiences.
* Prodigal Son - a show about the family of a serial killer played by Michael Sheen, which appears to be more of a biting comedy than a procedural. Even though it is meant to be a procedural.
* Virgin River - it's kind of Hallmark meets Northern Exposure, with some rather surprisingly touching scenes. Better than expected, if clunky in places.
* House of Bly - the sequel to Haunting of Hill House - but only because of the same guest and director/producer. A haunting portrayal of lost loves or the problematic nature of romantic love. Feels at times like a puzzle box of a series, more than a horror film. Although there are some genuinely creepy and unsettling bits here and there - that are guaranteed to keep one up at night. It's the adaptation of the Turn of the Screw and various other Henry James ghost stories.
* The Mandalorian - [haven't seen S2 yet] - as an aside, cousin was involved in digitizing and manipulating baby yoda, she hates baby yoda and the Mandalorian.
[Those were the memorable ones.]
ongoing series:
* The Expanse - still need to see S4 and S5
* The Mandalorian - season 2
* The Crown - S6 (I think)
* General Hospital
* Grey's Anatomy (although on my last legs)
* Virgin River (assuming it gets a third season)
* Stranger Things
* Great Pottery Throw-down - if it gets another season
* Titans
* His Dark Materials (on Season 2)
re-watches:
Great British Baking Show
books
I didn't read nearly as much this year as in years past (working remotely took away reading time, also I found it difficult to focus after February, I've not been able to finish "reading" a book that was not a graphic novel/comic book since February.). But I did get some audio in - mainly due to audio books.
* Jim Butcher's Peace Talks (which was about six or seven years in the making) - better than the last book, not as good as Ghost Story or Changes.
But at least the relationships took center stage. And there was a bit more world-building.
* Barack O'Bama's Promised Land - which I'm still listening to. It's about his election, and the first years of his presidency, allegedly goes up to when he ordered the hit on Osama Bin Laden.
* How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibraham Kendi - a bit on the preachy side. But I agreed with most of his views. And particularly liked how he provided examples from his own experience. He's a good writer and very moving, and has a great reading voice.
* Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazereth by Reza Aslan - it's an interesting delve into the historical records behind the New Testament, with some background on the old. Depicting how nasty people have been throughout history. And the split in the early beginnings of the church. It's uneven in places, and some of what he comes up with is more speculative than backed by historical record (but that's basically true of most scholarship on biblical text). He did a good job of reading it for the most part.
* The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller - a historical romance novel that is also a mystery and a ghost story. I started reading it in February, gave up sometime in March, and finished it with an Audio book in the summer. It takes place in 1800s New York. It's about a widow (whose also a designer) who buys a haunted house, and becomes romantically involved with an inventor who is also a paranormal scientist. She has a painful past.
Graphic novels or comics?
* X of Swords Cross-Over - which did a good job of juicing up the story. Because of the pandemic, we kind of jumped over a bunch of books in there. I don't think they ever did the sidekick series. The whole comic book industry kind of shut down from March through June. So everything that had been planned during those months was discarded, and they went with the cross-over when they came back.
What I liked about it - is it really rebooted and changed the character of Apocalypse, and his four horsemen. Gave them depth, and made them almost alien - and sci-fantasy. No longer from Christian mythos, but from Egyptian.
Even the characters were artistically rendered from Egyptian myths. Delving into Egyptian stories, as opposed to Greek or Viking, was a nice change of pace. And the art lived up to it.
Did you watch or read any of these? If so, let's chat about it!
***
Books, Television Shows, Movies - to see next year:
* Crown
* Expanse S4 and S5
* Dragon Prince
* Finish She-Rah
* Warrior Nun
* The Witcher (when it returns)
* Giri/Hajir
* Cowboy Bebop
* Midnight Sun
* Finish Bridgerton
* Mandalorian S2
* The Nevers
* Finish His Dark Materials
* Outlander - revisit
Read Jim Butcher's Battleground, and Illona Andrews Blood Heir
Along with Illona Andrews Innkeeper Series and Sapphire Fires and Emerald Blaze.
Everything else is up in the air, as it should be.
STUFF I WATCHED OR READ
movies
[Weirdly I didn't watch that many or remember them...]
Let Them Talk - Stephen Soderburgh's film about a "successful" literary novelist portrayed by Meryl Streep, whose agent convinces her to take the Queen Mary 2 to Britain to accept a literary prize. She agrees on the condition of dragging along two estranged college friends (Candice Bergen and Diane Wiest), and her nephew (Lucas Hedges). The film is mostly improvisational, with a plot outline, character outline, and hand-held camera work. It is compelling in a way, and haunted me afterwards in what it says about friendship, relationships, and writing.
The Old Guard - Cherlize Theron's movie about a bunch of immortal warriors who are struggling with their immortality and its price. In some ways it felt like a great set-up for a sequel. Uneven, but some good moments here and there, and a few nice surprises.
Harriet - saw it this year, was last year's film. About Harriet Tubman.
Emma - not as good as expected. I was disappointed. But the styles, and cinematography was interesting. It's the last movie that I saw in a movie theater.
Soul - possibly the best animated film I saw this year. And by far the most memorable. About a black musician in Harlem, NYC, who dies before he gets his big break - on his way to the great beyond, escapes to the before-life and finagles a way to get back to his body and his life on earth. It doesn't go the way you expect, and has all sorts of fun surprises.
Hamilton - the filmed version of the musical - possibly the best film of a staged musical that I've seen. Intense, and remarkably topical.
The Prom - It's not that bad, but it fails in a lot of ways it shouldn't. And I think it may have worked better on stage. About a young lesbian girl who wants to take the girl she loves to her prom, but the head of the PTA (who also happens to be the girl's mother) is standing in their way. A bunch of narcissistic Broadway Stars descend on her and the town in an attempt to fix things in order to make themselves look good. Part Broadway satire and part heartfelt message film, it kind of fails at both.
Wonder Woman 1984 - if you love 1980s superhero flicks this may be for you. If not? Don't bother.
The Boys in the Band - the film adaptation of the Tony Award winning play about a bunch of gay men attending a birthday party in the late 1960s. The party ends up being crashed by the college roommate of the host - and what results is a painful and wrenching night of confrontations and secrets being revealed. Notable in that all the actors portraying the roles are gay.
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - Chadwick Boseman's last film role - based on August Wilson's award winning play of the same name. Also a gut-wrenching play - this time about racism in the 1920s and 30s North. It takes place in a recording studio and is based on the real recording session of Ma Rainey and her band. Viola Davis plays Ma Rainey, and is almost unrecognizable.
Last Christmas - Emilia Clark's film about a young Yugoslavian immigrant, working in a Christmas shop - who figures out the true meaning of Christmas with the help of a young man she meets. It has some nice twists and is not what most people think.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 - Aaron Sorkin's film about the trial of the seven protestors "allegedly" responsible for the riots that took place in Chicago in 1968 during the Democratic Convention. In reality they arranged anti-war protests, that due to the mishandling of the police and local government became unnecessarily violent. The trial exposes the levels of racism in our society.
Disclosure - a documentary film about the transgender experience in film and television.
CATS - possibly the worst musical film adaptation I've ever seen or will ever see. It defies description. Let's just say, once you see - you'll never think of Ian Mckellan, Judi Dench, Taylor Swift, or Idris Elba the same way again...
Rise of Skywalker - better than expected. It helps if you go in with low expectations. Would have helped if it connected in some way to the previous two films (it doesn't). But enjoyable in spite of itself.
Okay, I can't think of anything else. I'm sure I saw other things. Ponders.
New Mutants - eh, I liked it better than most. But it didn't live up to the trailers. It was supposed to be horror, it didn't really come across as all that scary. And it was a bit cliche in who the villain was, and why. But the casting of the mutants was spot on.
Ford vs. Ferrari - loved it. Better than expected, I keep thinking I saw it last year though?
shows
new for me in 2020:
* The Witcher - loved this. It's based on a series of Russian fantasy novels and novellas, featuring a monster hunter in a war torn world. Very Russian in folklore and concept, and features Eastern European monsters and Russian folklore. Notable for the exceedingly strong female roles and their complicated backgrounds. Weirdly the character who gets the least exploration is the male lead. Henry Caville beautifully plays him, but the two female leads are the main attraction here. A surprise in how it subverts its own genre in providing strong female characters.
* The Queen's Gambit - also loved. It and The Witcher are vying for favorite series of the year. It is about a female chess champion - following her love affair with chess as a child through her twenties. And the love affair in the film is between the heroine and chess. Standout performances by Ana Taylor Joy as the heroine, and everyone else.
* Great Pottery Throw-Down - British reality series, in somewhat the same format as the Great British Bake Off, but with potters. I like it better. You get to see them make ceramic toilets, sinks, sculptures, and a mad hatter tea set.
* Avatar: The Last Air-Bender - a cartoon from the early 00s, which works really well now. Beautifully rendered, with rewarding characterizations.
* Bridgerton (not yet finished) - three episodes in, and I'm loving it. It's a Regency Historical Romance come to life - adapted from Julie Quinn's best-selling series apparently. They've adapted the first book - the Duke and I. But with a twist - many of the Dukes and the Queen herself are black. Also we see explicit sex scenes, and modern pop songs are rendered through violins and instrumental adaptions. It's new, it's vibrant, it's not historically accurate - and comments on class, history, race, and gender in a biting and new way.
* Staged - a biting and at times satirical, offbeat comedy about rehearsing a play during a British LockDown with David Tennant and Michael Sheen in the lead roles, and camoes by Samuel L. Jackson and Judi Dench among others.
* The Go Wrong Show - about a theaterical troop in London who continuously screws up their staging of plays in front of live audiences.
* Prodigal Son - a show about the family of a serial killer played by Michael Sheen, which appears to be more of a biting comedy than a procedural. Even though it is meant to be a procedural.
* Virgin River - it's kind of Hallmark meets Northern Exposure, with some rather surprisingly touching scenes. Better than expected, if clunky in places.
* House of Bly - the sequel to Haunting of Hill House - but only because of the same guest and director/producer. A haunting portrayal of lost loves or the problematic nature of romantic love. Feels at times like a puzzle box of a series, more than a horror film. Although there are some genuinely creepy and unsettling bits here and there - that are guaranteed to keep one up at night. It's the adaptation of the Turn of the Screw and various other Henry James ghost stories.
* The Mandalorian - [haven't seen S2 yet] - as an aside, cousin was involved in digitizing and manipulating baby yoda, she hates baby yoda and the Mandalorian.
[Those were the memorable ones.]
ongoing series:
* The Expanse - still need to see S4 and S5
* The Mandalorian - season 2
* The Crown - S6 (I think)
* General Hospital
* Grey's Anatomy (although on my last legs)
* Virgin River (assuming it gets a third season)
* Stranger Things
* Great Pottery Throw-down - if it gets another season
* Titans
* His Dark Materials (on Season 2)
re-watches:
Great British Baking Show
books
I didn't read nearly as much this year as in years past (working remotely took away reading time, also I found it difficult to focus after February, I've not been able to finish "reading" a book that was not a graphic novel/comic book since February.). But I did get some audio in - mainly due to audio books.
* Jim Butcher's Peace Talks (which was about six or seven years in the making) - better than the last book, not as good as Ghost Story or Changes.
But at least the relationships took center stage. And there was a bit more world-building.
* Barack O'Bama's Promised Land - which I'm still listening to. It's about his election, and the first years of his presidency, allegedly goes up to when he ordered the hit on Osama Bin Laden.
* How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibraham Kendi - a bit on the preachy side. But I agreed with most of his views. And particularly liked how he provided examples from his own experience. He's a good writer and very moving, and has a great reading voice.
* Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazereth by Reza Aslan - it's an interesting delve into the historical records behind the New Testament, with some background on the old. Depicting how nasty people have been throughout history. And the split in the early beginnings of the church. It's uneven in places, and some of what he comes up with is more speculative than backed by historical record (but that's basically true of most scholarship on biblical text). He did a good job of reading it for the most part.
* The Widow of Rose House by Diana Biller - a historical romance novel that is also a mystery and a ghost story. I started reading it in February, gave up sometime in March, and finished it with an Audio book in the summer. It takes place in 1800s New York. It's about a widow (whose also a designer) who buys a haunted house, and becomes romantically involved with an inventor who is also a paranormal scientist. She has a painful past.
Graphic novels or comics?
* X of Swords Cross-Over - which did a good job of juicing up the story. Because of the pandemic, we kind of jumped over a bunch of books in there. I don't think they ever did the sidekick series. The whole comic book industry kind of shut down from March through June. So everything that had been planned during those months was discarded, and they went with the cross-over when they came back.
What I liked about it - is it really rebooted and changed the character of Apocalypse, and his four horsemen. Gave them depth, and made them almost alien - and sci-fantasy. No longer from Christian mythos, but from Egyptian.
Even the characters were artistically rendered from Egyptian myths. Delving into Egyptian stories, as opposed to Greek or Viking, was a nice change of pace. And the art lived up to it.
Did you watch or read any of these? If so, let's chat about it!
***
Books, Television Shows, Movies - to see next year:
* Crown
* Expanse S4 and S5
* Dragon Prince
* Finish She-Rah
* Warrior Nun
* The Witcher (when it returns)
* Giri/Hajir
* Cowboy Bebop
* Midnight Sun
* Finish Bridgerton
* Mandalorian S2
* The Nevers
* Finish His Dark Materials
* Outlander - revisit
Read Jim Butcher's Battleground, and Illona Andrews Blood Heir
Along with Illona Andrews Innkeeper Series and Sapphire Fires and Emerald Blaze.
Everything else is up in the air, as it should be.