Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. We’re somehow halfway through the winter season at this point, meaning airing shows have now produced a meal-worthy chunk of episodes, which suits my modern viewing habits much better than weekly releases. That means I’ll probably be checking out The Fire Hunter soon enough, but in the meantime, I’ve been following up my rewarding journey through Mobile Suit Gundam with a dive into Tomino’s followup, Space Runaway Ideon. I’ve repeatedly heard that Ideon is an essential pre-Evangelion production, but to be honest, the first dozen or so episodes were fairly underwhelming. Ideon’s conflict and characters remained static for quite some time, but the show’s fortunately been gaining momentum in its middle stretch, so I’m looking forward to a more positive report next week. Tomino aside, the movie screenings continued as always, with this week’s viewings spanning westerns, sea dramas, and one of the most improbable revenge films I’ve ever seen. Let’s get to it!
Tag Archives: Film
Anxiety in the Plague Years: Bo Burnham’s Inside
It’s a little tricky for me to go about “unpacking” Bo Burnham’s Inside, as the special is largely concerned with Bo Burnham unpacking himself. What does Bo feel, and how does Bo feel about that, and how does Bo feel about feeling that way about that – all these questions and more are answered as the special progresses. Across an hour and change of songs and sketches, Burnham offers a wildly self-conscious reflection on the already self-conscious ways we present ourselves as modern, perpetually online human beings, exacerbated by the forced solitude of the COVID age. Through cataloging and critiquing his every wayward thought, Burnham seeks to paradoxically create something universal, something that speaks to a common experience of watching the world burn from inside your own shrieking brain. It’s harrowing, hilarious, and maybe even a touch profound.
Winter 2023 – Week 5 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. How are you all holding up as we march into February? It’s been a busy week on my end, as I’ve been hammering a bunch of ambitious drafts into shape, and trying to keep this streak of long-form essays going. A few months ago I couldn’t have imagined maintaining this sort of pace, but rearranging my schedule and simply embracing the challenge has carried me through so far, and I frankly feel a lot better mentally now that I’m tackling all these major projects.
Work aside, I’ve also continued storming through the original Mobile Suit Gundam, and at this point have just a handful of episodes to go. The show continues to impress me at every turn; by now you can really feel the weight of exhaustion hanging over the whole crew, making each new battle feel that much more desperate and unpredictable. I’ll likely take an opportunity to ramble about Gundam at length sometime soon, but for today, let’s explore a fresh selection of films. It’s time for the Week in Review!
Winter 2023 – Week 4 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’ve got a touch of sound and fury for you all, as the week’s screenings included a film I hated with every single fiber of my being. Yes, we did indeed watch Favreau’s detestable Lion King remake, so you all get to enjoy a dash of that naked fury that I only direct at things that make the world worse. Fortunately, the rest of this week’s screenings were much more fortuitous, ranging from a distinctive artifact of anime’s digital transition to a just plain excellent slasher film. Let’s start with the bad and push on through the good then, as we run down the latest Week in Review!
Winter 2023 – Week 3 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’ve got a diverse selection of films for you all, including a pair of Disney features prompted by my house’s recent Kingdom Hearts adventures. We’ve currently got three separate housemates running through the franchise, for which I humbly assign myself only partial credit: after one of those housemates abandoned the first game in disgust, it took my patient wading through that game’s countless crimes against game design to reach the fulfillment of its excellent combat system, and thereby convince the house to follow in my slipstream. We’re now happily plowing through the generally superior Kingdom Hearts 2, and our traversal of those worlds has gotten my whole house in a Disney classics sort of mood. All that and more, as we charge through the latest Week in Review!
Winter 2023 – Week 2 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. With the various projects attendant to the year’s end now complete, I’ve been returning to my usual watching habits, meaning I’ve got a genuinely fresh crop of film reflections for you all. Alongside the usual features, I’ve also spent the last week munching through the original Mobile Suit Gundam, and have quite enjoyed the show’s first dozen episodes. More than anything else, I feel impressed by the confidence with which it proceeds: the characters feel fully realized, the narrative trajectory feels almost inevitable, and countless tiny details gesture towards a solidity of worldbuilding that helps me genuinely invest in this world. I can easily see why it inspired such fervent fandom, and look forward to continuing Amuro’s traumatic journey as soon as possible. But first, some movies!
Winter 2023 – Week 1 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Somehow a new year is upon us, and I hope you’re all doing your best to reckon with that fact in whichever way renders it least existentially terrifying. Personally, I’ve been far too busy to stand aghast at the march of time – the last week has seen me racing to catch up on all the past year’s finest productions, and hopefully pull together a quasi-timely Year in Review. But don’t worry about that diminishing your usual Week in Review spoils; I’m sitting on a healthy buffer of film reflections at the moment, and have hand-picked a group of reflections that range from the conclusion of our Naruto filmography project to Ted Raimi getting his face caved in. Let’s ring in the year’s first Week in Review!
Fall 2022 – Week 13 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time! Today we celebrate the very last Week in Review of 2022, a year that has seen me consuming as many films as possible in my quest for genuine cinematic literacy. Granted, I’ve leaned heavily towards the horror and fantasy productions that my overall house tends to favor, and also complimented that with plenty of “whatever’s on Netflix” watches that I wouldn’t inflict on anyone, but there were still plenty of classics in the mix as well. From Sorcerer to Fitzcarraldo to Tokyo Story to Suspiria, I feel like I’m actually starting to solidify a list of favorites that actually represent what I love in art, and look forward to continuing this journey with you all over the year to come. For now, let’s sift through the cinematic spoils of the holiday season, as we charge through the year’s last Week in Review!
Fall 2022 – Week 12 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It seems we’ve arrived at the year’s penultimate Week in Review, and I’m still hard at work catching up on the year’s top shows. I’m only a couple episodes back on Chainsaw Man, and have finally started Orbital Children, but I’m probably gonna have to schedule some sort of all-day marathon for catching up on Mob Psycho 100. Oh dear me, three straight hours of inventive art design and gorgeous animation, what a burden. My own good problems aside, we also munched through a respectable pile of films this week, with our choices ranging from noir classics to some of the most unintentionally hilarious slices of propaganda I’ve ever witnessed. Let’s dive right into the Week in Review!
Fall 2022 – Week 11 in Review
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. I’m currently in the midst of cataloging all the anime I watched this year for my end-of-year article, and in the process realizing that hey, I actually watched a lot of anime this year! I’ve kept current on One Piece, munched through most of Boruto, checked out some old classics, and even watched a few seasonal productions. And crucially, I haven’t really been watching with any sort of system in mind – like in my early years of anime enthusiasm, I’ve just been grabbing what seems interesting and taking a look. With the preview guide long behind me, I no longer need to care what percentage of a season appears watchable to me; I can just watch the cream of the crop, and leave the demarcation of seasonal cruft to less fortunate souls. You all can look forward to that post coming in a couple weeks, but in the meantime, this week offered its own set of cinematic attractions. Let’s break ‘em down!