At the end of 2012 I mentioned I was looking forward to The Hives, De La Soul and People under the Stairs tours. I don’t think any arrived, though The Hives will be here soon for the Big Day Out; something I was already too old for when I last attended 6 or 7 years ago. They will rock. I will not see them. Ditto Living Colour, for I cannot justify $200 for a metal festival that only has one band I wish to see. Insert ‘sad’ emoticon here…
I wondered how Die Hard 5 would fare (so-so as expected), how Iron Man 3 would remedy the dull disappointment that the second film was (see below) and how Django Unchained might reinvent the Tarantino universe (it didn’t).
I feared that Evil Dead 2013 would suck (it DIDN’T!), that the finale to the Cornetto Trilogy would be a letdown (NOPE!) and that I might be the only guy looking forward to The Great Gatsby aged under 50 (only even I never actually saw it).
And I looked with trepidation at the arrival of Spike Lee’s Oldboy – and I still do. Damn thing still isn’t released.
And now even Two Thousand and *Adopts Huddo’s shrill excited voice* Thirteen. THIRTEEN! THIRTEEN!!! is now a distant foggy memory that will once again become clearer once the hangover mist dissipates. For some of us that will be early February.
I think 2013 will go down as a reasonable year for film, with the copybook blotted only by the numerous mediocre (and worse) sequels that constantly dribbled into screens, before vanishing with our money and the two hours we won’t be getting back.
Oh and it was the year where 3D was once again worth it for the only time since Avatar. But only if you were watching Gravity.
Top 10 in Film: 2013
Iron Man 3 was more fun, even with the seen it all before-d-ness of the finale, but let’s face it; in 25 years Gravity will still be talked about as a landmark – space station? – in film.
It might not be a film to watch and rewatch again on the same weekend, but watching Sandra Bullock desperately drift in and out of a series of large disintegrating Russian-space dolls as the oxygen levels dropped as fast as the water levels rose in Titanic was mesmerizing cinema.
And if the scenes where Things Fall Apart behind Bullock’s Dr Ryan don’t give you palpitations, check your pulse. You might already be dead.
2. Iron Man 3 – Even without the suit Tony Stark would be a character worth spending 120 minutes with. Brash and braggadocios and with an ego no alloy can hold, this billionaire genius is a well dressed quip machine that lives the life every guy envies. AND THEN he has that big metal suit that permits him flight and aesthetically pleasing destruction.
Two things elevated this edition of The Madcap Adventures of Tony Stark, firstly director/scriptwriter Shane Black was brought in to reanimate a tired character, giving him delicious line after line. Second, they broke the poor man, so that his ascension would once again be something to look forward to. No-one likes a bully that’s always on top, Shane Black made Tony Stark likable again.
All that and Ben Kingsley has the most fun onscreen of any character this year.
3. This is 40 – I’m 40 this year, so maybe I am exactly the target demo. Whatevs. No other film made me laugh as often as this one over the year. It wasn’t as funny as Superbad, didn’t have the highs of Knocked Up (nor mercifully the maudlin lows), but for mine this is the equal of The 40 Year old Virgin, only with richer characters and more heartfelt scenes.
Maybe Judd Apatow should look to put ‘40’ into more titles. It’s definitely worked for him so far.
4. The World’s End – If I’m brutal The World’s End isn’t as mind-blowing as Sean of the Dead nor is the action as iris popping as the latter part of Hot Fuzz (or many of the best bits of Scott Pilgrim). But as far as mainstream films go there were few this year crafted with as much care and attention to detail.
Check the dialogue in the early scenes where Gary King is trying to persuade his estranged former schoolmates to revisit their old stomping ground for a piss up. You can’t write stuff like that. Edgar Wright can. Check the numerous carefully placed, blink and you’ll miss them’ in-film Easter eggs that are littered through the film. Who would bother to do that? Edgar Wright would.
It’s now officially at the point for me where Mr Wright has moved into ‘Sure-Fire’ ground, even the stuff that doesn’t soar when compared to his other films, still piss all over 99.7% of the competition.
I demand that Edgar Wright, Paul Dempsey, David Gray, Rian Johnson and Guillermo Del Toro all be locked in a small room and force fed ideas until they create ALL the entertainment that the world requires for the foreseeable future. I think they are capable. (We can have Iko Uwais pop in for action scenes, Patton Oswalt and Bill Burr feed them one liners, and Steve Martin on call for… well what doesn’t that man do?)
Anyway The World’s End is a bloody good fourth.
5. The Conjuring – A pretty good year for commercial horror. First Sinister came and made things genuinely chilly for a good while (before unleashing the Kraken – or whatever they called the Naughty Spirit). Then Mama came to make things all not better. (Maybe she was a Mama-in-law? They’re scary.)
Then The Conjuring arrived, deftly toeing the line of scary and silly, sensibly keeping the action in dark places, and tying it all together in a satisfying way. Best Big Budget (for horror anyway) since The Ring.
And I should mention The Pact. No idea where this snuck in from and when, but it’s pretty bloody good, and nothing like the poster and title suggest. Find it.
6. Life of Pi – The best looking film of the year doesn’t even have 1997 Salma Hayek in it. What it has is the best looking fake kitty cat in cinema, a skinny Indian lad, and 15 square metres of floating feeding bowl being tossed about on a gorgeously turbulent sea.
Your mum’s favourite book has finally arrived on the big screen, and this film (along with Gravity) have conspired to demand that I buy a bigger tv that supports 3D.
7. Intouchables – Imagine this; a film centred around finding multi-racial, cross-generational love between two individuals from opposite sides of the tracks. And I didn’t find it on late night SBS.
Intouchables tells the (subtitled) tale of an older wealthy physically limited shut-in, and his younger, less disciplined, funkier carer. It isn’t a Disney film. It isn’t a saccharine ‘warm feelings… NOW’ film. It is funny. It is human. It is occasionally exhilarating. It is very French. And it is very good, with a charismatic performance by Omar Sy as Driss ‘the carer who used to not care’.
8. Turbo – Looks like someone done stole Pixar’s customary spot in the Top 10. While Monsters University was a funny and mostly rewarding trip down monster memory lane, it was ultimately and unexpectedly overtaken by a tricked out snail that sounded a lot like Ryan Reynolds.
As the parent of a 6 (now 7) year old I watched both slimy and furry films multiple times through the past several months, and it surprises even me to say that the one featuring a snail that only wants to go fast has trumped Sully and Mike Wazowski, both in entertainment value and rewatchability.
We’ve even had a family Tacovolution…
9. Safety Not Guaranteed – This year’s entry into the Napoleon Dynamite, Little Miss Sunshine, Punch Drunk Love ‘You will respect our Quirkiness-i-taaahhhh’ arena outperformed all prior contenders.
The premise might sound cobbled together, and the dialogue initially seems destined to head down unbearably self-satisfied paths “Give me the lesbian and the Indian and I’ll give you a story”, Safety Not Guaranteed rights itself the second Kenneth awkwardly enters proceedings. His intensity is worrying, his sincerity disarming and his personal delusions hilarious. Kenneth is like the indie offspring of John Laroche from Adaptation – and his performance is just as good.
10. Snitch – I wanted to give the last spot to Evil Dead 2013 – but subsequent viewings have dulled the impact just a little. And why not give The Rock Dwayne Johnson his due. Sure GI Joe wasn’t ever likely to end up in anyone’s Top 10 of any year, but with Snitch the big fella not only proves his acting chops (he reins in the eyebrow in scenes where he holds his own against Susan Sarandon and Jon Bernthal) but he proves that he can hold down the central role of an action-drama without ever letting it turn pear shaped.
I’ve said before that The Rock is the only contender to Arnie and Sly’s action throne – currently being warmed by Statham – but with Snitch he proves he is potentially ready to break the action chains and branch out into other genres. Hopefully he can avoid the Stop! Or my Mom will Shoot’s and Jingle all the Way’s.
Oh The Tooth Fairy you say? Haven’t heard of that one…
Also Worthwhile
Another ten worth your consideration. Not really ‘runners up’. More ‘other good’ stuff.
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Look it belongs in the Top 10, possibly somewhere 6 – 8. But I only watched it last night and am still digesting the thing. And if Peter Jackson really wanted to do The Hobbit justice, he’d do the opposite of the ‘Extended Editions’ of the LotR trilogy, pare out some of the unnecessary pit-stops and release a 3 hour ‘Condensed Edition’ of The Hobbit containing only the best, most relevant bits. That’d be something.
- Prisoners – I expected nothing when I sat down to watch this. I certainly didn’t expect one of the best dramas of the year. A police procedural a la Zodiac and such that takes twists and turns down every small town dark alley. With Hugh Jackman taking a particularly brutal tone. Evil Dead is bloodier, but films like this are scarier to me, cause they might actually happen.
- Evil Dead 2013 – It’s films like this that convince me to watch crap like Texas Chainsaw 2013 and ‘Spike Lee
butchers, hopefully presents’ Oldboy 2014. The humour is gone, the sharp kitchen utensils and miscellaneous tools from the garage that you tell your kids to stay away from are here; in the wrong (evil) hands… in a big way… Don’t think I need another Evil Dead sequel, but I watch the career of Fede Alvarez with interest from here. - Flight – Denzel once again heads to the dark side. The film starts with one of the best scenes in the year – a jumbo passenger jet crashing to earth – and then returns to more familiar territory of a man battling his own demons, only it then twists and turns in directions that you perhaps wouldn’t expect.
- Monsters University – As mentioned Turbo was better, but the setpieces (uni games) were well realised, and the continuing adventures of the little green sphere and the big furry blue guy are always amusing.
- The Pact – Another possible 2012 release that I found in 2013. The Purge wishes it had The Pact’s scares and credibility. The Pact wishes it had The Purge’s marketing and B Level acting drawcards. I’m pretty sure that this film will develop a following in years to come, cold comfort though as it will watch 100 inferior films released that will make far more money.
- This is the End – The World’s End’s understudy is fast and funny, with a bunch of B level celebs lining up to lampoon themselves for a minute or two. Unfortunately the ending is a let down, and you can’t shake the feeling that it has been tacked on in the interest of a quick finish. But funny people being funny is always good – expect in the case of Funny People…
- Grabbers – A modern day Tremors attempt with humour and funny horror. Lifts moments from a dozen other films, but chooses its targets well. And as The World’s End so amusingly proved, watching drunk people bumble about in unusual circumstances is always pretty funny.
- The Call – A minor bounceback from the man who gave us Session 9 and The Machinist. He takes a Cellular type premise and crafts a taut little thriller with a Silence of the Lambs finale that didn’t suck. Hopefully a harbinger of better Brad Anderson films to come.
- Stitches – Pretty sure it was a 2012 flick but I found it last year. Commiserations me. This is the best ‘amateur surly inept kid’s clown returning from the dead to slaughter the now adults’ film made in recent memory. The clown related gags you would expect to be present, are present – only pulled off way better than you expect. And the comedic moments are indeed dark, but actually funny (when did ‘dark’ become funny even if it didn’t make you laugh?).
To sum up; 3 Great, a couple very nearly and a better year in commercial horror than the low budget stuff – an about face from the norm. You’ll notice not many sequels aside from Tony Stark’s 3rd adventure, but I’ll be a little more forthright with that below in the ‘Worst of’ section.
Not many potential ‘moist-makers’ on the immediate horizon. We’ll see…
Still more ‘Interesting’ Stuff
Another ten flicks that are neither great nor necessarily terrible, just worth mentioning for various reasons;
2 Guns – An exactly what you expect – but better – old fashioned MA rated action romp. It’s got two legit headliners in Denzel and Wahlberg, and Paula Patton supplies her own ‘2 guns’ that are similarly worthy of headlining status. Perfect Saturday evening DVD fare.
Elysium – Neill Blomkamp will make a Great film at some point. He’s made a very nearly one already with District 9, but found incorporating Big Stars (Matt Damon, Jodie Foster) and Big Ideas a little more challenging. It’ll come, and I’ll be waiting.
The Hangover 3 – That silence was the sound of Mike Tyson’s acting career ending.
Holy Motors – The arthouse circuit favourite that merits adjectives like ‘brave’ and ‘challenging’, but none that should imply greatness or anything more than limited acclaim. I’d endorse a nomination for best performance though to the chameleonic star of the show.
The Lone Ranger – Not bad enough to be on the ‘worst of’ list, unless you’re gauging success based upon potential… Or bang for the (considerable) buck. Just an overlong bloated muddled face painted mass of confusion, with Johnny Depp in perilous danger of entering the Travolta/Cage zone of Mega-Stars peering into the abyss of ‘remember that guy’ ism.
Only God Forgives – Look Drive was one out of the box, a film with shock value, kitsch, a credible cast and (limited) mainstream appeal, all wrapped up in a pseudo 80s hypercolour wrapper. But this is indulgence. An orange toned brood-fest with the Mum and loopy Thai cop doing their level best to out-act each other. After Drive Nicolas Winding Refn knew his next film would be talked about. If he keeps churning stuff like this out that won’t last much longer.
Pacific Rim – It’s as deep and meaningful as the kid-friendly Japanese anime shows that used to screen Saturday morning. But director Guillermo Del Toro doesn’t do ordinary, and even his indulgent and flawed films look interesting. He throws everything but the kitchen sink at the screen, with his usual too many characters vying for attention, but the stars of the show are obviously the massive colourful metal ‘kaiju’ monster killing machines. If you only see one giant ‘beneath the Earth’s crust monsters vs huge metal machine’ film this year, make it this one.
Parker / Redemption – I’ve said before that even bad Statham is usually fun, but 2013 was an especially… Umm… Stoic? year for Stat. Parker got the cinema release thanks to J-Lo’s (alleged) appeal, but both films won’t get near Statham’s Top 10 if there is a God. (I also saw Blitz this year – not much.)
The Wolverine – We’ll always have the bullet train scene. I continue to insist that old Wolvie is the only character from the X Men ensemble that should headline a great superhero film. This one has better scenes but remains overlong and occasionally incoherent. But they’re getting closer…
World War Z: Strangely wants to be a David Mamet unpredictable low frills style film; only with ferocious swarming zombies. Has a couple moments that stand out, with the overrunning of the Iranian walled citadel the obvious, but was a bit precious – a bit I Am Legend – to flourish. An most importantly I still think it’s hilarious that Brad Pitt will be the reason many normally ‘low risk’ cinema-goers discover horror.
Worst Films of 2013
There should be enough good stuff above to provide a few pleasant distractions from reality. The below flicks remind us that life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows…
‘Anything 2’: A shocking year for first sequels. Even if I give Red 2 and Kick-Ass 2 as not being horrendous, they were clearly a couple steps down from their predecessors. Thor 2: The Dark World sucked. Ditto Silent Hill 2: Revelation and Grave Encounters 2.
The biggest mis-steps by far though were The Last Exorcism 2 (can you even have another if you’ve already had the ‘last’) and Machete Kills 2. Their collective suck shares the title of ‘Worst of 2013’.
Lords of Salem: Rob Zombie somehow gets discussed as more than a guy with wealthy friends and connections and a vivid – albeit limited – imagination. His ‘technique’ so far is getting some hairy and smelly people to chant and stab, with his wife periodically disrobing for precious little reason. In this film the hairy and smelly people are witches, and his wife disrobes more than a few times. Even if it’s a switch up for Zombie in terms of theme – the quality remains even – very low…
Spring Breakers: When they did it with unknowns it was called Kids and it was panned. When they do it with curvy ex-Mouseketeers and child stars it’s called art. The sluttiness and nudity remain, the potty talk omnipresent, and if you’re trying to sell a scungy rapper singing Britney songs with balaclavad hoes as your ‘Oscar moment’, then we need to talk.
R.I.P.D.: Hey guys trying to kick-start your own MIB rip-off; Ryan Reynolds has 4% of the contrived charisma of Hollywood’s favourite Registered Trade Mark, Will Smith. Jeff Bridges doing his Colonel Sanders impression is not Tommy Lee Jones. Without those things even the fact that the film is of similar (low) entertainment value, matters for naught. It might say more that I’d actually rather watch MIB than this again (but I’d rather pluck my nose hairs with a pair of rusty pliers than revisit either).
Texas Chainsaw 2013: The best bits of this are lifted from the classic Tobe Hooper original. The best bits total maybe 90 seconds. The remainder of the film is 80 odd excruciatingly implausible and patience testing minutes.
The Purge: The biggest tease of 2013. There’s a premise here. Definitely a premise that suggests more than the dull home invasion flick it became. And when my fleeting moment of amusement arrived when the invaded home’s wife spreads a neighbour’s nose across her face, it took a second to realise it was because I so desperately wanted someone to transfer the pain I was feeling in watching this crap to.
Madison County: If you’re the worst ‘no budget’ horror film in any year, you’ve got problems. Madison County might be the worst no budget horror film for many years.
Resident Evil: Retribution: Let’s see. Were there any Resident Evil or Underworld films released in 2013? They’re always goo to pad out any ‘worst’ list. There was? Well let’s put that in then…
Stoker: A second look might change my mind. The problem is when the first was so painfully dull and boring, I find it difficult to justify outlaying another two hour investment. The guy who made The Sympathy trilogy and JSA made this???
Man of Steel: After Real Steel Hollywood should have realised that films with ‘Steel’ in the title. Just. Don’t. Work. As a film it wasn’t atrocious, as a super-hero film it was even ‘fair to middling’, but while we keep letting Zack Snyder spend hundreds of millions on mediocrity, we’re entertainment’s biggest enemy.
The Best In 2013: Music
Quite the dull year in music for the most part with a few exceptions. With releases in my usual staple genre hip-hop practically non-existent, I was forced to dig deeper into the past to come up with musical diamonds in jewel cases. (Cannibal Ox did release a tantalising single though ten plus years after their seminal – and still insanely listenable debut The Cold Vein – but without uber-producer El-P it wasn’t the unlikely return to form that I hoped fervently for.) Kudos to the Mark of Cain and their back catalog for filling the background of several dull work days with the drone of industrial noise and pummelling drums.
It was quite often a fruitless hunt, and equally often a disappointing one.
Rather than padding out a Top 10 by naming albums I didn’t even buy, once again here are the albums I actually paid good money for this year;
The Paradise Motel – Oh Boy
With the excellent – but low selling – low key Lindy / Azaria Chamberlain court case concept album (!) Australian Ghost Story and a second equally effective album I Still Hear Your Voice at Night arriving in quick succession after a decade plus long hiatus, my hopes were high that this mail order only album would continue the resurgence.
Oh Boy indeed.
Who told Paradise Motel that Merida Sussex’ angelic ethereal voice was the group’s weak spot and it should be almost erased from this release? Was it the guy with the unremarkable voice and painful delivery who sings lead on practically every song
Probably.
I’ve always maintained that Paradise Motel have a brilliant discography packed with deliberately non commercial downtempo trip hoppy tunes. Oh Boy doesn’t dampen my enthusiasm for their prior output but it does kinda weaken my argument.
Arctic Monkeys – AM
Another album full of Arctic Monkeys type songs, but none of the quality and catchiness from their still classic original album. Reasonable and occasionally catchy, but ultimately non threatening and non essential.
Mark Seymour & the Undertow – Seventh Heaven Club
Mark Seymour and band cover their favourites. A typically eclectic bunch of tracks as you might expect from someone with the career arc of Mr. Seymour, only with a few mid tempo plodders and (frankly) dud songs.
I’d much rather have had an album of new material, even not great new material.
And what is it with the 4 Non Blondes’ track Caroline suddenly becoming the best cover track on multiple albums in the same year? Never bothered with it when they released it, now I can’t get enough of it regardless of who sings it.
Elvis Costello and The Roots – Wise up Ghost
It’s slowly growing on me now that the initial puzzlement has passed, but this is still not what I expected at all. Take one of pop’s evergreen pioneers and a known experimentalist, and gift him one of hip-hop’s immortal groups – and the result is this?
Look I know it was critically acclaimed, and as mentioned a few tracks have found their way to the iPod where they are improving gradually in my eardrums.
But that first couple listens had me wondering if I purchased a double album and only received the out takes and deleted songs.
Even among the admittedly decent songs, there are zero essentials or classics. The Roots tunes have never sounded more sterile and Costello’s lyrics remain firmly in middle ground.
Good enough for some, but not for me, especially when you consider the parentage.
Bob Evans – Familiar Stranger
The first part of the title is spot on. The second, not really. If you like the work of everyone’s favourite alt-pop pseudonym there’s a lot to like here. The slower stuff works better this time around, as Bib is starting to realise that his voice is better suited to mellow tuneful stuff without the Jebs being around to fill in the gaps.
A little bouncier. A little poppier. Somehow happier. Still 100% Bob.
Deltron 3030 – Event 2
A consistently listenable and challenging album full of catchy tunes and bizarre (and often unnecessary) guest appearances. Cull the dull between song bits (and I did) and a couple tracks where the hooks overpower the song, and you have eight or nine towering songs. Or in other words a mostly great album with only a couple dead patches.
Dunno if this goes against my ‘no good hip-hop in 2013’ claim from above, but in truth I am unsure if Deltron 3030 is really a hip hop group. Certainly Del tha Funkee Homosapien is a rapper, and an endlessly talented one with immense flow, but producers Dan the Automator and Kid Koala are hardly household names in … Ah forget it. I yield Deltron 3030 is the hip hop album in the year of 2013, a year in which the genre produced at least one great album.
Underground Lovers – Weekend
O glorious day. Not only did one of my 90s faves release a new album after fifteen odd years of mournful silence, but it is great. So great that you could convince me they made it in 1998. And considering I think their music is timeless anyway, that’s more a tick for the quality than the era.
You start growing confident at around track 5. You realise that not only are there no duds, but it’s like the Undies have tried to build new songs to fit in with old classics. ‘There’s one from Rushall Station’. ‘That one would totally work on Ways t’ Burn’. ‘Oh they’ve added a couple little bleeps… to a song they never actually released before’.
And if the quickening tempo of Au Pair and repeated hoarse refrain of same near the end of the song doesn’t work, you’re in the wrong spot.
Comeback of the year is for pussies. This is easily the album of the year.
Spotified, not Spent on…
El-P & Killer Mike – Run the Jewels
On paper a genius pairing made in music heaven. On vinyl; not so much. Sounds like so many outtakes and scrapped early versions, a rough cut of what might be. This is their second collaboration – and the second I don’t much care for – hopefully the third is the trick.
Ghostface Killah – 12 Reasons to Die
A bad year for rappers teaming with super-producers (see below). Critics hailed the creativity and freshness of the tandem. I heard repetitive lazy beats and atypically bland raps from one of the most consistently innovative lyricists of the last decade.
Mazzy Star – Seasons of your Day
More woozy dreamscapes. The soundtrack to a road movie through deserted cornfields. If you don’t like it, you hate it. If this is your thing, there are gems to be found. (Does get a big slow and heavy if you want more than background music.)
Tricky – False Idols
The descent into madness badness continues for the once Adrian Thaws. The production is a little more straightforward, though not in such a great way. The female vocalists are in abundance, the solid tracks a distant memory.
So riveting I can’t remember much more about it. His career is at a point when I don’t care to remember.
Single of the Year
Paul Dempsey – Shotgun Karaoke
I’m cheating a bit here, but when Paul Dempsey releases anything I am front and centre. When that release is a $5 ‘throwaway’ of Dempsey covering his faves then how can you go wrong? I mean 8 tracks at single prices? – I’m allowing it.
First of all the selections are excellent. Even the few tracks I hadn’t heard of are instantly great, and the ones I had that never blew me away suddenly did.
Apparently recorded in hasty fashion with minimal production and stripped back instrumentation, the EP is insanely relistenable and instantly accessible. Good tunes usually are.
And if he and Mark Seymour ever decide to pair up and play duelling versions of Caroline… Count me in.
Best of TV
Hello Ladies
This spot was Stephen Merchant’s to lose, and he would have if I had the energy to take on Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones. But my ennui is Merchant’s gain, although I can’t see a Season 2 in his future on the strength of this.
The trivialities and travails of a six foot six bespectacled foreign beanpole with his own eccentricities and character flaws in Los Angeles, a city where imperfections and such issues are not tolerated.
In short it’s Merchant playing himself, a grinning, big eyed, well meaning but ultimately self centred wallflower trying to land one of the twelve most unattainable women in the world. Nothing else will suffice apparently.
The problem is that while putting the character in situations where his proclivities practically demand he act awkwardly is one thing; the fact is that his Stewart seems a bit of a prick at heart.
The awkward guy in the wrong spot thing can be funny, as tragedy is infinitely more blackly amusing when you actually want the guy to succeed in the end. But when you don’t really like the guy, the awkwardness grows old fast and you just want it to end.
Merchant’s partner Ricky Gervais did the same thing but he knew his David Brent was a prick. Merchant wants us to like Stewart but can’t give enough reasons to. Pick a side Steve.
Elsewhere on the teev…
An entirely ‘meh’ year for the few shows I do watch. The Walking Dead was Dullesville until the very end – of the half way mark in the season (I mean how many DVDs do they want to sell). They finally brought the Governor back, then had him spend nearly 3 episodes ‘finding himself’. I mean was there ever any doubt that he was destined to go buck wild again?
And you couldn’t even kill off a major character. Granted we are down to I think three originals from Season 1, but everyone feeling a little queasy isn’t getting it done.
(I think I’ve said the below bit before but I can’t remember where or when.)
The problem with a zombie outbreak is that there are only so many variances if zombie kill. After a while the hack/slash becomes just going through the motions. You need emotional conflict to get things done. The Walking Dead has done infighting. It’s done external battle. It’s now done introspection and internal conflict. Either move the action to a new group of survivors or it may be time to wrap things up.
Perhaps the gutsiest move was Family Guy killing off Brian, but even they did a backtrack a couple episodes later. Lucky there’s enough NBA and AFL to fill in the thousand left over hours each year…
The Future
With 2014 now a few days old it seems premature to be worrying too much about what is ahead – aside from the obvious above… Just know that there will be unexpected surprises, entirely expected disappointments (Transformers 4 anyone?) and probably some Sandler and Ferrell filler.
Elsewhere I’ll tell myself I’ll watch Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad (I won’t), I’ll say I’ll crank up the Xbox more (I might) and I’ll waste less time watching trashy movies (no chance -it’s what I do).
Bring it on.
OGR
