Tag Archives: Film

Winter 2022 – Week 10 in Review

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. I come to you today directly from the Elden Ring mines, having been laboring on FromSoftware’s latest since literally the moment it was released. Elden Ring is the biggest Soulsborne yet, and with two other housemates also vying for playtime, it will surely be a while still before any of us return to civil society. Sixty hours in, the game still feels too good for this world; too perfect an articulation of the best virtues of open world and combat gameplay, too close to the “theoretical perfect game” I’d theorize by combining the greatest aspects of four masterpieces.

As a result of Elden Ring’s all-consuming perfection, our selection of films this week has largely been guided by the principle “can you follow this film over your shoulder during your turn on Elden Ring.” Light selections are the order of the day, but we still managed to scrape together an interesting collection of viewings. Let’s storm down the Week in Review!

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Winter 2022 – Week 8 in Review

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. I think we’re over the hump now – February has nearly ended, the skies are clearing, and we’re even getting some occasional warm days to remind us that nature isn’t always a villain. Meanwhile, the COVID-delayed holiday release bounty is now in full swing, with Dying Light and Horizon already released, and Elden Ring looming in the near distance. So lush is this bounty that my house has actually decided to hold off Horizon, as there will likely be no time for anything but Elden Ring for the next month or so. Let me know if you’d all be interested in some game design thoughts for next week, but for now, let’s charge through some excellent films!

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Winter 2022 – Week 6 in Review

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I have a confession to make: I have no idea what days or weeks are anymore. Initially, as a replacement for the original reflection on weekly anime episodes, it felt effortless to simply echo that pattern with the films of the week. But of course, as a nervous workaholic who uses art consumption to stem the terror of existence, I’ve ended up watching and writing well ahead of any reasonable or sustainable weekly output. As a result, I now have a “Week in Review buffer” of like fifteen films, and yet couldn’t begin to place any of these films in the theoretical weeks I ostensibly reviewed them. Time is an illusion, but content is forever, so I hope you’ll forgive me for the increasingly loose conceptual justification for this weekly article conceit. Let’s get to the films!

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Winter 2022 – Week 5 in Review

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. After the overwhelming sequence of complex and criticism-rich films from last week, I was more than ready to enjoy some straightforward comfort food. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in a whole bunch of horror screenings for this week’s post, but don’t worry, I also found time to check out a hidden gem of animation, along with whatever films I’ll hopefully add to this post between writing this paragraph and releasing it. In the meantime, it’s starting to feel like our house is actually running out of reliable horror selections, so if you’ve got any suggestions, please do your best to terrify us. Alright, let’s kick off the Week in Review!

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Winter 2022 – Week 4 in Review

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Boy oh boy do I have a collection of films for you today. With our house’s reliable contributor of genuinely bad suggestions on vacation (sorry Neil, but it’s true), we experienced a week of all-thriller-no-filler, storming through unimpeachable classics and a variety of great new features alike. We cleared out a couple of 2021’s top outstanding features, leaned back to snag Kaufman’s latest film, and also spent some time with that irrepressible showman, Orson Welles. It all made for a weighty, criticism-ready pile of cinema, and I feel like my thoughts are going to start tumbling out of my head if I don’t get to them immediately, so I’m just gonna quit with this labored introduction and get to the good stuff. Let’s run down the Week in Review!

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Winter 2022 – Week 3 in Review

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Whew, it has been a week. I finally got my COVID booster, which had me basically incapacitated for forty-eight hours. That, of course, invoked a rolling cascade of delayed responsibilities, meaning I’ve been rushing to catch up on projects while handling a variety of other outstanding responsibilities. It turns out as an adult, when you have a sick day, that day’s responsibilities don’t just float away into the ether; they get compacted into all your other days, punishing you for the audacity of possessing a feeble, mortal frame. Fortunately, I’ve mostly caught up at this point (or will have once I finish this article, then write up the first half of the next Week in Review, then watch the last four episodes of Sonny Boy, then write it up for my Year in Review), and believe I have managed to keep my external pandemonium from tarnishing the sanctity of my weekly film reflections. With all that bellyaching off my chest, let’s dive into the Week in Review!

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Winter 2022 – Week 2 in Review

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Oh god, it’s already week two of the new year? But I haven’t done anything yet! As long as we were still adrift in that post-Christmas/New Year haze of temporal ambiguity, I could avoid the anxiety of feeling insufficiently gung-ho about seizing the new year by the horns, and immediately accomplishing all my long-dormant life goals. But now it’s Week Two, and I’m still the same person I was last year, and clearly that means I am incapable of commitment or self-improvement or any of the other things we annually demand of ourselves. Fortunately, our house did indeed run through a fresh collection of films, so at least my cinematic education is still burbling along. I’ll do my best to internalize the fact that personal growth is a gradual process, and in the meantime, please enjoy this fresh collection of film takes!

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Winter 2022 – Week 1 in Review

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Alright folks, pile in, pile in. It’s technically the new year from where you’re standing, but I’m currently starting this article on 12/28, and doing my best to keep the weekly content flowing while also catching up on 2021’s best anime. Turns out it might not have been wise to leave like three quarters of the year’s most highly acclaimed shows unwatched, but hey, at least I’m eating well right now. I’ve already stormed through Ranking of Kings, will be following up with Heike Monogatari, and should have Sonny Boy finished by some time this weekend. To be honest, you’ll probably be seeing the fruits of this watch grind within a few days of this very article – but for now, we’ve got other fish to fry. Let’s charge through an eclectic collection of films, as we run down the new year’s first Week in Review!

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Fall 2021 – Week 13 in Review

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Apparently we’ve reached the end of another year, though with all the fires of 2020 still raging, it certainly doesn’t feel like that much time has passed. Biden has settled into the bemused indifference of most modern democrats, COVID is still running wild, and the environment is in chaos; so far, so normal for our apocalyptic era. With the external world maintaining its all-seasons horror show, I’ve mostly been marking my time in art consumed, which frankly isn’t all that different from my usual behavior.

To be honest, the biggest difference is this project right here. With a clear incentive to actually jot down my thoughts on everything I’m watching, I’m engaging in more active thinking about the connections between all these films, and broadening my appreciation of cinema at record pace. Transitioning these articles to my weekly film adventures has been a great boon for both my artistic education and mental health, so I’m thankful to you all for bearing with me as I sail through the history of cinematic storytelling. Let’s break down one more week in film!

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Fall 2021 – Week 12 in Review

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I have some lamentable news: every single film I watched this week was great. No grand failures, no experimental misfires, not even any random nonsense my housemates dredged from the depths of Netflix. Every single movie was great, and that means I actually have to provide meaningful commentary for all of them, rather than tossing them aside with a terse summary and a jab at the director’s mother. On the other hand, I suppose this is actually good news for all of you, as you get to enjoy my cinematic ramblings for that much longer. So let’s get to it, ya animals, as we run down a worryingly distinguished Week in Review!

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