Hello folks, and welcome the heck back to Wrong Every Time. It would seem that summer has finally unleashed its fiery tendrils, as I am currently laboring under an oppressive, obnoxiously humid heat that has reduced my cat to a wilting blob on the sofa. Nonetheless, I remain steadfast in my dedication to bringing you only the freshest film reviews, be they features of yesteryear or alluring new productions. This week we actually caught up on a variety of recent films, checking out the latest escapades of the reliable Jason Statham while also continuing our journey through the world of Dragon Ball. Much screening time has also been dedicated to my housemate’s rampage through Critical Role’s second campaign, an adventure that has increasingly played like a cautionary tale regarding the role of the dungeon master. I might actually write up some thoughts about that campaign as a whole once we’ve reached the end, but for now, let’s break down the week in films!
Tag Archives: Film
Spring 2024 – Week 8 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am proud to announce that I’ve actually fucking done it – my last episodic Evangelion writeup is already sitting in my drafts, and I’m feeling confident it’s one of my best so far. Charging through this last act of the show in a matter of weeks turned out to be the perfect way to approach it; I could feel the same sense of desperation and longing as our poor pilots, calling back to the many times I marathoned Evangelion back in high school and college. The show is still just as poignant and insightful as it struck me back when it was permanently reshaping my brain chemistry, and I feel fortunate to have this chance at articulating just how much it means to me. Anyway, those will be popping up over the next few weeks, but for now I’ve got a fresh selection of film features for your perusal. Let’s get to it!
Spring 2024 – Week 7 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I write to you amidst a frenzy of creative passion, as both the Evangelion writeups and new DnD projects are flowing abundantly. With our current campaign briefly on hold, my playing party just concluded a two-part post-campaign adventure in the world I created for our last campaign, this time both designed and led by one of our other players. The experience offered a refreshing perspective on campaign and narrative design; I am a creative-first top-down designer, meaning I essentially write a drama and then set to work translating it into DnD’s mechanical structures, whereas this two-parter’s designer is a mechanics-first, bottom-up designer, meaning he designs an interesting mechanical puzzle and then finds a creative coat of paint for it.
It was interesting to see how that mindset incurred various second-order effects in terms of how the sessions played out, and it’s also got me hungry to run my own adventures again. It is a wonderful feeling to have run a campaign that my players are clamoring to return to, and once I’ve concluded this Eva era, I’ll be eager to share some of my design documents with all of you. In the meantime, we’ve got a fresh pile of films to explore, so let’s get to work!
Spring 2024 – Week 6 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. We’re finally hitting the warm weather at this point, so I’m happy to be sitting with my windows open and a pile of Evangelion writeups in front of me, all eagerly awaiting their final revisions. It may in retrospect have been psychologically unwise to leave half a dozen deep dives into the mindset of depression and self-hatred all stacked up at the end of my funded projects, but honestly, it’s actually been an absolute pleasure returning to these episodes that still loom so dramatically in my own media development. As it turns out, Evangelion is really, really good, truly one of the great works of narrative art, and every episode I revisit only offers all the more to appreciate. The characters are so richly drawn I can relate to aspects of all of them, and it also simply feels good to at last be fulfilling these long-outstanding requests. Anyway, I’ll likely have the next Eva writeup for you on Monday, but for now let’s see what films I snuck in the margins of the week!
Spring 2024 – Week 5 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I write to you in the midst of a furious productivity burst, as I charge through my last outstanding Current Projects while also working on various independent creative endeavors. Having broken through the anxiety of doing right by Evangelion’s most legendary episodes, I’ve been savoring my return to the series that first sparked my love of anime, and learning I do indeed have a whole lot to say about the show that made me who I am. And with my house now steadily marching through their third DnD campaign, I’ve been balancing independent writing between whittling journal entries describing that campaign’s progress and plotting out postgame adventures for our previous campaign.
There’s little more satisfying than hearing your players demand they get to spend more time in your world, and I’m doing my best to honor that request with suitably harrowing new adventures. Anyway, I might share some of my in-character diary entries or design documents soon, but for now, we’ve also got a pile of fresh films to talk about. Let’s get to it!
Twenty Years Later
Twenty Years Later is the story of João Pedro Teixeira, a leader of Brazil’s rural Peasant Leagues who achieved some notoriety in the early 1960s. Teixeira was vying for more equitable conditions for his town of Sabe’s workers, who were being heinously exploited by the local landowners. Forced to produce cash crops for export instead of self-sustaining food, and constrained within a situation where both their jobs and homes were owned by local barons, Teixeira’s neighbors had no recourse but to come together, using the title of “Peasant League” to avoid the fraught term “union.” This semantic defense did not protect them; Teixeira was murdered on the side of the road while returning his son’s library books, and his league died with him.
Spring 2024 – Week 4 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It’s been another productive week on my end, as I’ve reduced my outstanding Current Projects to less than a dozen essays and other features, with my article buffer now encompassing more than a month’s worth of drafts. I’ve matched that productivity with a fair portion of off-the-books anime viewing, as we munched through more of Gundam’s supplementary Universal Century projects, as well as anime films both venerable and vestigial. Having watched so many of the early Toei films, I’m now looking to round out my ‘80s animation education, while also likely taking a break from Gundam to watch some other outstanding series; I haven’t quite decided yet, but Nadia, Mononoke, VOTOMS, and Moribito are all high on my list. Anyway, I’ll catch you all up on that when I get to it, but for now let’s break down my latest animated escapades!
Spring 2024 – Week 3 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. This week I come to you in a state of shame and disgrace, as I have to admit I mostly sorta liked an Uwe Boll movie. I know, one of the chief cinematic punching bags of the ‘00s actually entertained me – although truly, my increasing appreciation of his oeuvre can likely be ascribed as much to the ensuing degradation of Hollywood action movies as to the quality of Boll’s own films. The era of full greenscreen has essentially destroyed Hollywood’s capacity to create an action movie, and the streamers are if anything even worse – films like Jungle Cruise, Red Notice, and The Grey Man all testify to the death of the traditional action vehicle. Anyway, that aside, I’ve mostly been enjoying the fresh spring air while channeling my natural instincts into the anxiety attacks of my poor goblin cleric, which has been an altogether liberating experience. Let’s burn down the week’s features in the latest Week in Review!
Spring 2024 – Week 2 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. It seems like spring is actually getting off its ass and into some sort of motion at this point, as we’ve finally escaped the chills and showers of early April. I’m thus looking forward to sneaking in a run sometime this afternoon, but in the meantime I’m happy to report that both our film viewings and tabletop adventures are proceeding smoothly.
I’m attempting to maintain a somewhat tricky balance in our current campaign, as I’m both the most comfortable speaking entirely in-character, but also aware of my necessity as a player who actually pushes the party towards their next objectives, rather than simply riffing or waiting for something to happen. As such, I need to be mindful of making sure neither my characterization nor mechanical prodding becomes too overbearing; I’m leading from the back here, but working to make sure Tilly (my nervous goblin cleric) doesn’t overwhelm either the personalities or agency of my allies. D&D is often a process of attempting to construct a coherent fantasy drama out of potentially incompatible base materials, but with a full campaign as DM at my back, I’m doing whatever I can to make sure this one succeeds, and that we collectively embrace a greater degree of in-character drama than ever before. Also, films! Let’s get to those!
Spring 2024 – Week 1 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Spring has apparently sprung at this point, though you wouldn’t know it by the grim, cloud-haunted spectacle outside my window. Still, even if we can’t measure the season in beautiful spring days, we at least have the inexorable march of anime production to help us keep the time. Apparently Tsutomu Mizushima’s got another original show this season, which may well raise me from my slumber to the point of actually watching an airing production. And beyond that, I’m also beginning my fashionably late consumption of recent favorites, with Frieren and Delicious in Dungeon currently at the top of my list.
After watching through Zeta, ZZ, Char’s Counterattack, 08th MS Team, G Gundam, War in the Pocket, Stardust Memory, and Unicorn, I’m feeling a little Gundamed out at the moment, so I’m looking forward to balancing things with some fantasy – and of course, if you all have suggestions regarding classics I’ve missed, I’m always looking for new favorites. Anyway, that about covers my anime state of the union, so let’s press onward to the film screenings!