Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we enter into that strange period of the annual anime cycle where we’re pushing mid-June, yet still working through the final weeks of the spring’s shows. This mismatch has long been a source of comfort to me, ensuring me that although we might already be a significant way through summer, it hasn’t technically started yet, at least according to the arbitrary strictures of Japan’s broadcasting schedules. But alongside deluding myself regarding the dwindling days of summer, I also made sure to watch a scattering of new features, furnishing our usual horror selections with a recent animated feature and a very mopy Brad Pitt. Let’s break ‘em down!
Category Archives: Week in Review
Spring 2023 – Week 9 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. While most of our weekly screenings aren’t really driven by any sort of guiding theme, one of my housemate’s larger meta-projects lately has been to test one of my other housemate’s variable tolerance for action movies. We’ve basically pinned down that an emphasis on practical stunts, focus on at least vaguely human characters, and minimum of grating machismo are generally the key factors allowing our action-averse companion to enjoy some apocalyptic mayhem. And this week in particular, we discovered a franchise that somehow nestles within the overlapping circles of all our interests: The Fast and The Furious. As such, today I bring to you the fruits of a week and a half of fast and furious features, as we raced from the original film all the way through F9: The Fast Saga. Plentiful spoilers ahead, but you really can’t describe this franchise without referencing the audacity of its twists and setpieces. Buckle your seatbelts, folks. It’s time to get furious.
Spring 2023 – Week 8 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week has seen me and my housemates positively gorging on Tears of the Kingdom, losing ourselves in the realms of Hyrule at every possible opportunity. The game still seems plainly unrealistic; game worlds can’t be realized with such simultaneous breadth of experience and effortless nuance of character interactivity, all of these systems can’t possibly feed into each other to encourage such a robust and satisfying play loop, and jury-rigging machines together couldn’t ever feel so seamless, natural, and joyful. And yet it is, they do, and making weird contraptions has proven itself the natural evolution of Breath of the Wild’s call to creative action. They’ve even addressed what issues did exist in Breath of the Wild, from weapon durability (now you can always craft your own high-quality weapons) to rain (say hello to sticky tonics). It’s been hard to pull myself away, but don’t worry – we still found time for our scheduled film viewings. Let’s get into it!
Spring 2023 – Week 7 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I come to you after hours of scribbling about movies, having been forced by article scheduling to skip last week’s standard movie-scribbling time. It’s so far been a week of catchup in general – with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arriving on Friday, I essentially did the temporal version of pushing all your stuff into a closet and hoping the door locks, and have been paying for my adventures in Hyrule ever since. Fortunately, I’m now all caught up on my responsibilities, meaning I can now push a whole new set of responsibilities forward to make more time for Zelda. The game is just straight-up bottled joy – I was wondering how they’d make a new adventure in the same world feel fresh, and every minute I play is filled with delightful, intriguing answers to that question. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about Zelda once I’m decently into it, but for now, let’s run down the films I snuck into the margins of the week!
Spring 2023 – Week 6 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. We’re halfway through the spring season at this point, which means most new shows have lost their opening act glamor, and I can start figuring out what’s actually worth following this season. I’ll obviously be catching up on The Witch From Mercury at some point, but as for new arrivals, it seems like Tengoku Daimakyou is the one worth checking out? I’m also still committed to getting my house into Birdie Wing, which I think our recent return to Hot Shots Golf will help facilitate. And shit, there’s also Vinland Saga! Alright, this idle reflection has swiftly unearthed more responsibilities than I expected, so I’ll probably be chipping away at some new shows this weekend. But in the meantime, let’s burn down a fresh collection of films in the Week in Review!
Spring 2023 – Week 4 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. It’s a beautiful day out today, so I’ll try and keep this brief so we can all enjoy the sun. I’ve certainly done enough sun-shunning already these past few days; my housemate’s idle interest in checking out Bloodborne has predictably turned into an all-Souls rampage conducted by three of us, with Bloodborne and Demon’s Souls falling in quick succession, and the original Dark Souls soon to follow. The games are certainly still challenging, but I’ve played all of them enough that this journey also feels nostalgic and even cozy; there is a certainty of input and response in FromSoft games that makes mastery feel much like a dance, while seeing a new player deal with their “sense of humor” is almost as good as playing through it yourself. And of course, we also made time for a fresh collection of films, including some timely holiday selections. Let’s get to work!
Spring 2023 – Week 3 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I write to you from the midst of a spring cleaning embodying mind, body, and home, as dusting and vacuuming are accompanied by a renewed commitment to a regular exercise regimen. I know, I know, I say this every spring, but I really mean it this time! And don’t worry, this alleged commitment to self-care hasn’t gotten in the way of vegetating in front of various media objects. I’m actually over halfway through Dennou Coil at this point, and though the start was a bit slow, I’m at last fully engaged with its rogue-data-as-folklore episodic conceits, as well as its quiet lament for the death of neighborhoods that facilitate such idyllic childhoods. It’s got both Patlabor The Movie and Rainbow Fireflies vibes, and that is a very good place to be. Anyway, I’ll have more composed thoughts on Dennou Coil once I’ve finished. For now, let’s charge through a fresh collection of feature films!
Spring 2023 – Week 2 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time! Today I am typing this up in my running shorts, as spring has finally decided to grace us with its presence, and bless us with something more hospitable than sub-fifty temperatures. As much as I am loath to admit that every doctor and gym teacher I’ve ever had was right, it is undeniable that regular jogging improves how I feel both physically and mentally, and so I’ll soon be off rambling my way around the neighborhood. But before that, I’ve got a fresh collection of films for you all, with this week’s selections offering an even split of horror and martial arts cinema. Look, I know I’m predictable, but after a long day in the anime mines I frequently just want to sit back and watch something terrible happen to somebody else. Let’s see what we’ve got!
Spring 2023 – Week 1 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This week we’re greeting the spring anime season, and wouldn’t you know it, there’s actually a couple shows I’m interested in checking out. Both Tengokyu Daimakyou and Hell’s Paradise look pretty interesting, and from last season I’ve still gotta catch up on Tsurune and Vinland Saga. Having concluded Dragon Ball (don’t worry, we’re covering that today), I’m also continuing my personal journey through missing classics with Dennou Coil, a show I’ve been meaning to get to literally since I first plotted out my key anime gaps almost a decade ago. And yet, among all the tumult of fresh anime and anime gone by, I still managed to fit in a fresh stack of feature films. You ready? Let’s do this. It’s time for the Week in Review!
Winter 2023 – Week 13 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’ve got a motley collection of films for you all, ranging from pulpy scifi spectacles to a mid-century classic, and even a buddy film starring a dog. It’s been a fairly busy week both in films and elsewhere, as I managed to munch through two of my ambitious backlog projects last week, thereby dragging myself a few inches closer to being genuinely current on my current projects. It’s still a distant dream, but I’m nonetheless proud of my progress so far this year, and can’t wait to share more of these big articles with all of you. Anyway, enough patting myself on the back, let’s break down some films!