Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. We ran through a wild grab bag of films this week, touching on fantasy, action, comedy, and even a Musical Filmic Journey that more or less defies characterization. Along with these various films, I actually have been watching a fair amount of anime in my free time, though I haven’t even started with the spring season yet. Instead, I’ve mostly just been gorging myself on One Piece, powering through Skypiea as I work on Monster Hunter Rise, and having an altogether terrific time with it. Did you folks know One Piece is good? Niche property, I know, but probably deserves a second glance. Anyway, I’m sure I’ll dig into that at more length, so let’s dive right into the Week in Review!
Tag Archives: Film
Spring 2021 – Week 1 in Review
Hey all, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. I watched a grab bag of horror movies this week, along with continuing my journey through the Ghibli catalog. I’m frankly getting a little anxious about that Ghibli journey at this point; I now only have one Miyazaki left, two Takahatas, and then a light scattering of their non-royalty productions. That’s not enough movies! Like my dive into Mamoru Oshii, I’m realizing that what initially felt like an intimidating library of canon classics actually comprises just a handful of films, and when I’ve watched them, that’ll be it. Anime is extremely young among art forms; if you’re judging from Tezuka onwards, its birth is actually still within living memory. Fortunately, there are still plenty of other mountains to climb – I certainly need to watch the pre-Ghibli Toei Doga films, I’ve got a bunch of key ‘70s and ‘80s series to examine, etcetera. But it’s an odd feeling to realize a once-imposing slate of historical context is now largely behind me, and when I’m done, there will be no more Miyazaki or Takahata films to enjoy. I guess you can’t really have a journey without a journey’s end.
Anyway, enough of that melancholy nonsense. Let’s break down some films!
Winter 2021 – Week 12 in Review
Oh my god, have we got some shit to wade through. My house began this week in film with an awful mistake, as I actually joined my housemates for a genuine hate-watch. I’ve on the whole stopped seeking out things that I know are going to be bad; there is infinite great media out there, which is all great in a variety of new and enriching ways, whereas bad media tends to be predictable, familiar, and dull. It doesn’t feel fulfilling to flex on something that’s bad; it’s too easy, and generally I’d rather just enjoy something good. Well, I broke that rule this week, and I duly paid the price for it. Fortunately, the rest of this week’s viewing experiences were much more compelling, so let’s just take the medicine first then, as we plow through another Week in Review!
Winter 2021 – Week 11 in Review
Hello all, and welcome on back to Wrong Every Time. I had a fairly light week in extracurricular film studies this time, as my free time was mostly just spent hammering out the last act of Control, and also playing even more Slay the Spire. Look, the game has twenty difficulty levels for four different decks, and is specifically designed to tell me I’m awesome for learning to draft Magic cards in middle school, so me and it will likely remain acquainted for quite some time. In the meantime, I did manage to sneak in my second Dario Argento film, as well as an interesting but flawed recent attraction, and yes, even more Bleach. Without further ado, let’s break ‘em down in the Week in Review!
Winter 2021 – Week 10 in Review
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Over in the hyperbolic media chamber, this was a week of projects, as I dug into games that had been sitting on the shelf for too long, and also passively watched maybe fifty episodes of background anime. After my housemates decided to watch the Bleach live action film (my review: it’s an anime live action film), one of them was inspired enough to return to The Source itself, and power through the entire goddamn Soul Society arc. So for once, the answer to “where is Bleach” is truly “here is Bleach.” We’ve got that and more to get to, so let’s start powering through the Week in Review!
Winter 2021 – Week 9 in Review
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. I’m pleased to report that I’ve had a delightful past week in film, running through an array of productions that were overflowing with all sorts of entertaining monsters. My house held a “monsters then and now” double feature of the original Godzilla and the new Monster Hunter, we chewed through a terrific home invasion film, and we also checked out Shudder’s mean-spirited yet hilarious new horror-comedy. Giant monsters, human monsters, goofy monsters, and monsters you hunt down in order to collect parts to make your big sword even bigger and swordier – perhaps not the most genre-diverse crowd, but an entertaining one nevertheless. Let’s break ‘em all down in the Week in Review!
Winter 2021 – Week 8 in Review
Hello everyone, and welcome to another week on this cold, lonely rock. This week in non-anime media started, as many of them have tended to, with Martin Scorsese. Not because I watched another Scorsese film (I’m actually running kind of low on those, which I’m a little proud of), but because he released another terrific essay, articulating both his love for cinema and his fear regarding what’s become of the artform. Let’s start off with that article then, and carry on into my week in cinema!
Why It Works: Kaiju Are Making a Comeback!
For this week’s Why It Works, I took stock of just how generous our current era is in terms of kaiju productions. We’ve got the Anno-Higuchi films, Legendary’s surprisingly good MonsterVerse films, and even a pair of high-profile kaiju anime coming this spring. As someone who’s only recently gotten into the genre myself (I just watched the original Godzilla this weekend!), it’s nice to have so many great examples of the form to choose from, and I was happy to shed a bit more light on these excellent productions. Here’s the piece!
Winter 2021 – Week 7 in Review
Hello all, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. I had quite the productive week in terms of film screenings, as we knocked off another Hitchcock production, a pair of quasi-notable ‘90s features, and one of 2021’s most compelling new films. It’s frankly nice just to be able to talk about new films at all, given the times. Cultural production kinda ground to a halt for most of 2020, and while I’m certainly not thrilled that Covid will likely destroy the movie theater economy, I’m thankful that new films are at least again being released, and giving us something to look forward to in these dark times. Speaking of which, have you seen that new Shin Ultraman trailer? It’s another Higuchi-Anno joint like Shin Godzilla, and considering how fantastic Godzilla was, I’m eager to see how this one plays out. For now though, let’s explore a fresh catalog of films in the Week in Review!
Winter 2021 – Week 6 in Review
Hello all, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. I’ve once again got a pretty varied grab bag of reflections for you all, including a few mismatched movies, one of last year’s most acclaimed videogames, and a show that’s generally considered one of the best modern sitcoms. As far as anime goes, I’ve continued to power through Wonder Egg Priority articles, and should have my fifth post arriving on Friday. Until then, I hope this varied assortment of media takes, with no real continuity or cohesiveness of any sort, at least provides a glimmer of entertainment in the interim. Look, I’m trying to consume All The Media, some of these weeks are going to be less coherent than others. Let’s get to it!