Fall 2020 – Week 1 in Review

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. It’s the end of an era this week, as for the first time in seven goddamn years, I haven’t actually watched all of this season’s new anime premieres. In fact, I’ve only watched one – Jujutsu Kaisen. It was pretty good! I might watch another episode.

Contributing to Anime News Network’s preview guide was certainly a rewarding experience, and it’s been interesting to see trends in the medium evolve over the last half-decade or so. But ultimately, saying “this wasn’t particularly good” has always been the least interesting part of criticism to me, and so I’m happy to be at a point where I can invest more in the shows I’m passionate about, and less in the shows that are an affront to any sense of taste or decency. So without further ado, let’s dive into a regular old Week in Review, and take a few swings at some interesting art!

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Summer 2020 – Week 12 in Review

Well folks, we’re technically approaching the end of the summer anime season, though we’re actually on the verge of October. That’s okay though, since I didn’t technically watch any anime beyond my Current Projects shows this week, and so I’ll once again be offering you a grab bag of scattered media experiences. As far as those go, this week was both diverse and lucrative; I watched a satisfying array of films in a variety of genres, and am eager to share my findings with all of you. Let’s explore the miracle of cinema together, in yet another Week in Review!

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Summer 2020 – Week 11 in Review

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. This has been a revival-filled week for me, as not only did I complete my Bill and Ted journey with Face the Music, but I also checked out the first season of the new Karate Kid show, Cobra Kai. It would have been easy for either of these properties to turn out as joyless cash grabs, but for once, the opposite proved true: Face the Music serves as a worthy conclusion to the Bill and Ted saga, while Cobra Kai not only embraces the absurdity of its premise, but also discovers a remarkable degree of human truth within the Karate Kid’s shadow. Without further ado, let’s break down these excellent revivals!

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Summer 2020 – Week 10 in Review

Pack it on in folks, it’s time for the Week in Review. This week I barreled through a pretty strange selection of feature films; the closest thing to an acknowledged classic was Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, but aside from that, I was essentially guided by the whims of my streaming services’ recent additions. The Almighty Algorithm actually did a pretty reasonable job this time, though I had to toss in a recent horror pick of my own, because what week is complete without introducing a new monster into your nightmares? I think that about covers the shape of the week, so without further ado, let’s break down some new movies!

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Summer 2020 – Week 8 in Review

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another goddamn Wednesday. I watched a fairly balanced array of features this past week, including an unexpected horror gem, another American classic, and a whole lot of Steven Universe. I enjoyed Steven Universe the first time I watched it, but it turns out my momentum ran out that first time just as the show itself was starting to ramp up. The show only seems to improve as it continues through its third, fourth, and fifth seasons, capping off with a movie that had me bawling again and again. Steven Universe now stands securely besides Avatar: The Last Airbender at the highest echelon of American cartoons, and though I’m sad to leave it behind, I’m glad it’s ending strong, and not repeating Adventure Time’s slow fade of an ending. Anyway, I’m still in the introduction here, so I should probably save some Steven Universe love for the article proper. Let’s break down another Week in Review!

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Summer 2020 – Week 7 in Review

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Wednesday has arrived again, and though my ostensible “Week in Review” posts are continuing their steady transformation into a shapeless, abyssal mass of unprompted media opinions, they’re still keeping me busy with plenty to write about. This week I watched through the first half of Steven Universe’s final season, caught up on the fascinating and beautifully executed Deca-Dence, and also tossed in a fresh film for seasoning. Deca-Dence has been so damn interesting that I’m almost certainly going to write some sort of long-form essay on it, but in the meantime, I can’t exactly let Tachikawa’s statement that “we were mostly inspired by Wreck-It Ralph” go unanswered. Without further ado, let’s explore some fresh new stories!

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Summer 2020 – Week 4 in Review

Hello everyone, and welcome to another Week in Review. This week I’ve got a pretty diverse stew of films and shows to cover, ranging from the persistently fascinating Deca-Dence to new releases, old classics, and whatever my housemate could find on Netflix. The big hit this week was Do the Right Thing, which I’ve known by reputation as one of the most insightful and just-plain-excellent films on race in America, and which I’m happy to report is fucking fantastic, obviously. It turns out the entire film criticism community was right about that one, who would have guessed. Anyway, I’ve rambled about things I’m about to ramble about again for long enough, so let’s get right down to the Week in Review!

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Spring 2020 – Week 13 in Review

Hello everyone, and a hearty welcome back to Wrong Every Time! I’ve got an eclectic collection of film thoughts for you all today, starting off with a Ghibli classic that could not fit more squarely within my wheelhouse. Incidentally, writing that sentence prompted me to look up what a “wheelhouse” actually is, and the answer is adorable: it’s a little cabin you build to protect whoever’s manning the wheel of a ship, meaning it’s a literal tiny house for a wheel. Fantastic.

Anyway! All my friends have been clamoring at me to get to Whisper of the Heart for weeks now, and unsurprisingly, I ended up absolutely loving the film. Along with that, this week featured a strange spread of films in a variety of genres, from vintage Arnold Schwarzenegger to a recent film that tries much too hard to be quirky. It’s an interesting mix of films, and I’ve got plenty to say about them, so let’s dive into another Week in Review!

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Spring 2020 – Week 12 in Review

Another precious week has slipped through our fingers, but fortunately, by collecting my thoughts on the movies I watched, I can still affirm those lost days truly existed. I plowed through a pretty diverse set of features this week – one ’70s classic, one acclaimed recent feature, an off-the-beaten-track horror film, and the latest film by one of my favorite directors, Mamoru Hosoda. I’m actually getting pretty close to the point where I’d be comfortable writing an overall “best anime films” list of some kind, which is something people have been asking about for years, but which I haven’t felt well-watched enough to attempt yet. In light of that, feel free to recommend any essential anime films I should check out, and please enjoy this latest Week in Review!

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Spring 2020 – Week 11 in Review

Hello everyone, and welcome back to my little corner blog. My media adventures were diverse and rewarding this week, as I explored films ranging from recent South Korean highlights to one of the very first noir films, along with a film that’s known mostly for introducing the world to the concept of Sean Connery in bright red underwear. I remember years ago, I’d frequently find myself paralyzed in choosing what films to watch by the inherent opportunity cost – as someone who didn’t watch that many movies, I didn’t want to “waste” any of my film-assigned time slots with a misguided pick. These days, I’m watching movies all the goddamn time, which actually makes me feel a lot more free to watch whatever comes to mind at any given moment. Let’s explore more of the treasures of this rambling journey, as we burn through another Week in Review!

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