ANNUAL REVIEWS!
Please hold you excitement.
This list is harder and harder to do with each passing year because there's just so many geek fandoms out there now, some of which are only accessible to specific streaming platforms. With an insanely busy schedule even though I'm recently unemployed, and launching a new travel blog, I've compiled my annual list. Hopefully this coming year I can find time to watch the shows I've been meaning to check out like The Expanse and even Star Trek: Discovery, but if there's anything this last year taught me, it's that life is super unpredictable. And yes, there are geek shows and movies I saw that weren't worthy to make my list.
Of course, you cannot proceed without this:
You have been warned!!!
The Flash - Gorilla Grodd vs. King Shark
Fans of the comic book hero had been waiting for this battle to go down since both characters were introduced, and rejoiced when it finally happened. King Shark has been transformed back into his human self, but when Grodd overpowers Barry and Nora (too bad he didn't kill Nora) and starts telepathically controlling the citizens of Central City, he opts to go back to his shark form to battle Grodd. The battle is a little shoddy due to the limits of the CW's CGI department, but they do the best they can with a limited budget and deliver a very entertaining and suspenseful fight scene.
Legends of Tomorrow - the Monitor is not amused
The Monitor is essentially a minor god in the Arrowverse who pops up from time to time and gives the heroes updates on the upcoming crisis. In the season finale of this show, the Legends use a book that brings to life whatever is written in it and use it to create a theme park to show that the monsters they've been collecting over the season aren't scary, but are good and misunderstood. Now the Monitor makes a surprise appearance and is watching the Legends do a corny action show to introduce the monsters and is clearly not impressed with their shenanigans. The crowd is also not happy and starts booing until another monster not on the schedule pops up: a dragon. Not only is the crowd more entranced, now the Monitor is too. The camera zooms in to him and he's now clearly entertained and eating popcorn while he watches. He's such a serious character, but it's fun to see him enjoy himself and not be as stoic. Check out this clip at 11.57 down below for this scene.
Spiderman: Homecoming - the bus leap
He may be our friendly neighborhood Spiderman, but Peter Parker is still a high schooler even after having been snapped back to reality. Tony left him a pair of glasses that command Stark technology, including satellites and drones, and Peter doesn't take the time to find out all the ins and outs of his incredibly powerful gift. When caught in a compromising position with a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent by his romantic rival for MJ, Brad, he decides to use the glasses to prevent him from showing the picture he snapped and accidentally calls a drone strike on his class's bus! When he gives the wrong command and the drone sends a missile at the bus, his quick response of shooting web at the steering wheel only destroys the driver's side mirror. With another strike coming, Peter distracts the class by claiming he sees mountain goats, then leaps up as the bus still moves and shoots webbing to stop the drone. It's a slo-mo scene that works to show how quickly Peter can recover from setbacks, but the scene setup shows just how much Peter still needs learn about being a hero.
Shazam - say what?
What a fun surprise this film turned out to be! This unorthodox superhero film did a good job of subverting typical superhero tropes while also integrating elements of horror similar to what Aquaman did last year. One of the ways it went against norms was in the final battle between Shazam and the baddie, Dr. Sivanna. While Shazam's foster siblings take on the seven deadly sins below, he and Sivanna take to the skies. Shazam eventually eludes Sivanna until he finally sees him a good distance away. Sivanna begins to do the stereotypical villain monologue, but he's so far away that Shazam can't hear what he's saying. He constantly tries to reiterate that he can't hear Sivanna, but he can't hear either and just keeps talking. For a moment taking place in a fantasy universe, this is a realistic look at how acoustics would work in this situation.
Jumanji: The Next Level - Milo's hidden stat
Who would have known that the third movie in this trilogy would hold up so well? I would like to give some serious props to Kevin Hart for his turn portraying Danny Glover, and Awkwafina when she had her turn playing Danny DeVito's avatar. Jack Black was just as awesome as the last one, and the entire cast does an amazing job, but those two did exceptional jobs. Now for the best moment from this film: after the original five with Milo and Eddie meet up in-game and realize that five of them need to switch avatars with each other, Eddie takes over the pickpocket character of Ming and Milo takes on the horse that Bethany entered the game as since her original avatar was being played by Fridge. Milo and Eddie are captured by the baddies and when the team splits up, Alex goes to rescue Milo. After two failed attempts that suck up two of his three lives, Alex finally reached Milo and frees him. Before he continues, he taps Milo to see his stats and becomes excited when he sees them but the viewers don't. At the climax of the game, Eddie rides Milo toward the ledge of the fortress to catch the jewel needed to win the game. Eddie begins to panic but Alex confidently tells everyone to wait. Milo leaps over the edge, and then wings spread from his back, exposing that he was a Pegasus all along. It was a beautifully done scene with a twist that had a very satisfying payoff.
Detective Pikachu - the Toterra garden
Tim and Lucy, with Piakuchu and Psyduck in tow, barely manage to escape the compound where Mewtwo escaped when Psyduck becomes too agitated and sends out a psionic wave that prevented the Greninjas from capturing them. Unfortunately, the wave also causes the terrain around them to move. The team struggles to stay together, not knowing what's going on until they are able to see that the reason why the world is moving: they're not a solid earth, they are on the backs of giant Toterras! So much happens in this scene that you really do need to see it because I can't describe it all. Enjoy!
Xfinity TV Presents: The E.T. Holiday Sequel
We are currently being overloaded with long awaited and never-asked-for sequels and reboots left and right. Hollywood, we're tired of this! And now, Xfinity changes everything with a 4 minute commercial about a reunion between E.T. and Elliot. This commercial plays homage to the film by bringing back Henry Thomas meeting E.T. when he drops into Elliot's backyard and meets his kids. In this very brief movie commercial, it hits on all the important parts of a good story: E.T. getting to know Elliot's kids, enjoying Christmas activities with the family, E.T. introducing Elliot to his family by a communication device (that he probably should have had in the actual movie), and then returning to his space ship when the kids take E.T. via bike to the landing site exactly how it was done in the movie. It was absolutely perfect, and it was just a commercial. This was all we needed, and it was provided flawlessly. And don't tell me some of you didn't cry because I know you did!
World of Warcraft - Sylvanas's power play
I haven't been able to play this game in a few years, but I have been keeping track of the expansions and the lore. With Battle for Azeroth changing a lot of character motivations, one of the characters whose alterations weren't making many people happy was with the Banshee Queen, Sylvanas. With the upcoming expansion of Shadowlands, the game developers chose to push Sylvanas slightly out of the way of becoming Garrosh again with the new trailer. She has an epic battle against the new Lich King, Bolvar Fordragon, and pulls some awesome moves to overpower him. When she removes his helmet, all fans collectively held their breath, fearing that she was going to become the new Lich King. Then, as she raises the helmet, she pulls. She breaks the helmet, thereby destroying the Lich King's power over the undead and opening a portal to the lands where the citizens of Azeroth travel after death. While this action is still iffy to most fans (myself included), Sylvanas's expert power play in bringing down the Lich King was quite the suspenseful moment. Here's hoping the game devs make the expansion worth it!
The Orville - the genocide
This second season almost became more Star Trek than the Galaxy Quest-type feel the first season was. In a darker episode, the android, Isaac, freshly in an adorable relationship with Claire, suddenly goes offline and needs to be taken to his home world to be reactivated. Yet as the crew clashes with the Kaylon race, Claire's son Ty goes exploring and finds himself underground. When Claire goes looking for him, they uncover millions of bodies, leading to the discovery that the Kaylons are not the indigenous race of the planet; they completely annihilated their organic creators and took over the planet. This discovery then spurs the entire Kaylon race, including Isaac, into a galaxy-wide invasion to be continued in the next episode. Very few sci-fi shows dare to tackle genocide of this scale, and boy was it a shocker to watch!
Because FOX keeps a tight lid on its clips, here's the trailer for the episode. But if you can check out the entire episode, DO IT. This is insane!
The Boys - I have a baby and I'm not afraid to use him!
In light of all the superhero shows out there, the new show The Boys flips all those tropes on their heads showing the collateral damage of having super powered humans. Of course there's many layers to this show, and it's soon discovered that superheroes are actually being bred to be exploited later in their lives! Well, put my second favorite Kiwi, Karl Urban, on the job and he'll never disappoint. Urban is Billy Butcher and he infiltrates the compound where these kids are being brought up, but he's soon caught by security. Pinned down by the guards, Billy finds the real-world equivalent of Jack Jack from The Incredibles movies and points him in the direction of the guards. Commence a scene of a baby shooting lasers out of its eyes and pulverizing the guards. Played with gleeful gusto by Urban, this scene is one of the best all year!
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Yo-Yo stops the virus
This poor team just can't seem to catch a break. Yo-Yo lost her arms last season and broke it off with Mack before this season began, but found a new relationship with a new agent, Keller. After encountering a living virus that was seemingly killed by a special knife from other world travelers, the team makes the dumb mistake of removing the knife and the virus, shaped like a bat-like creature, goes right into Keller's body. As Yo-Yo tries to get him out of the bunker, the virus takes complete control of Keller's body and begins mutating it, then spreads in the form of deadly crystalline matter. There's only one thing to do, and Yo-Yo doesn't hesitate to do it: she retrieves the knife with her super speed and kills her boyfriend. The last bit of humanity in Keller blinks understandably at Yo-Yo as he slips away and she reacts to what she's done. Once again, this series is criminally overlooked with its subtle acting, so I'll put it here. Good job, you two, for a superb performance.
Game of Thrones - Brienne is knighted
Geek opinions have been ruling the internet forums lately, and regardless of how disappointing this final season was, there was one moment that fans collectively agreed was a great one. Fan favorite Brienne has been one of the hardest working characters, but she's never been recognized as a knight because she's a woman. Well, Jamie Lannister decides to change that and bestows that knighthood that has so eluded her throughout the series. And while this is a special scene for her, it's Tormund's response that sells this scene. No one's prouder than him. Too bad she didn't choose him in the end. For a more satisfactory fan made ending, check this out.
Joker - the gun in the children's hospital
Bravo, Joaquin Phoenix! I could easily make a top ten list from this film alone, so I'll stick with one of the most memorable and suspenseful scenes. Arthur is brutally beaten at the beginning of the film and buys a gun off of one of his coworkers for protection. Later, as he's performing as a clown at a children's hospital, the gun falls out of his pants, which he then chases as it slides across the floor. He then sticks it back in his pants and coolly plays it off as nothing when he puts his finger to his lips and goes, "shh." Obviously, he's fired for what happened, but boy, was that a brilliant scene! Other fantastic actors have played the Joker in the past, but only Phoenix could have pulled off this scene correctly.
Stranger Things - Mike is dumped
Ah, young love is so adorable until reality sets in and you realize that teenagers are super immature. After Mike lies to Eleven about Nana being sick and then taking off to the mall where Eleven happens to be, she confronts him as only she can, seeing right through his lie and asking why he's done it. When he doesn't answer, she walks right up to him and tells him, "I dump your ass!" while Foreigner's "Cold As Ice" starts to play. Short and not-so-sweet, that sweet 80s tune captures the essence of what just happened!
The Witcher - Toss a Coin to Your Witcher
I have read the books but not played the games. As a reader, I had in mind that Jaskier would be Donkey-like to Geralt's Shrek, but I wasn't expecting him to have such an amazing voice. With this little ditty he composes after he meets our anti-hero and subsequently survives their capture by elves, he swarmed geek forums and YouTube. Within days, "Toss a Coin to Your Witcher" generated hundreds of videos of the original song, each having been viewed hundreds of thousands of times at the lowest, and by the millions at the most before it had even been out for a week. This incredibly catchy tune has already been covered by numerous YouTube singers and will likely continue to be. The phenomena of this song being just so darn captivating is something that no other geek song has achieved in so short a time frame.
Picard Trailer - Picard's dog
This show isn't set to premiere for another few weeks, but the trailer (which was difficult for me to dig up when it premiered because I was in Italy at the time) shows promise and I am definitely going to check this one out. Those of us who grew up on Next Gen are all too familiar with Picard's moniker for his first officer, Will Riker, "Number One." In the trailer, Picard has a dog named Number One. Cue the squealing! That's almost too adorable for our Shakespeare-loving Captain. And I have to give a minor shoutout to Jeri Ryan returning as Seven of Nine, and she's wearing a loose sweater. Thank God for that, at least Jeri will be more comfortable this time around!
Crisis on Infinite Earths - you can't leave us hanging like that!!!!
The multiverse ended!!!!!!!!! The five-episode crossover blended the casts between the six shows of the Arrowverse: Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman and Black Lightning, plus a handful of celebrity cameos, such as Burt Ward, Wil Wheaton, Tom Welling, and Kevin Conroy. There were some notable flashbacks as well, with Brandon Routh (FINALLY) returning as Superman, and John Wesley Shipp being referred back to his stint as the Flash in the 80s. For the first three episodes, The Monitor is trying to assemble a team of Paragons, which wind up being White Canary, Supergirl, Batwoman, The Flash, Routh's version of Superman, Martian Manhunter, and a human named Ryan Choi. In the end, the Anti-Monitor, having taken over Harbinger's body, battles and defeats The Monitor, but Pariah uses the distraction to transport the seven paragons to safety where the Crisis event cannot touch them. But once they reach safety, Superman begins to convulse. Kara desperately tries to do something to save him but doesn't know what's going on, so she can only watch in horror as he stills....and is replaced by none other than Lex Luthor. Lex used the Book of Destiny to disguise himself as Superman and has now replaced one of the seven paragons, the only people who can save the universe. Seriously, WTF???? We have to wait till mid-January to find out what happened????
Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker - Ben gets the light saber
This is a post about the top geek moment from this film and not my personal opinions on the movie, though I will say that J.J. Abrams really shouldn't have stuck to his plan with The Force Awakens in cashing in on nostalgia after the dumpster fire of undermining expectations that Rian Johnson pulled. There were a few notable moments that were worthy of being on this list, but I will go with one that I think J.J. did well with. The Last Jedi established the bond between Kylo Ren and Rey, and in this one, it expands to where they can exchange items, take them, or even if they accidentally knock over something nearby it will fall near the other. After Kylo redeems himself and goes after Rey to help her defeat Palpatine, he's almost to her when he's ambushed by his own knights. Rey, about to seemingly fulfill Palpatine's wish for her to kill his body so that his spirit can inhabit hers, then brings Leia's light saber behind her back, which Ben is able to take. It may be a little on the predictable side, but Ben handling his mother's blue light saber, showing his true allegiance to the light side and that his mother's death was not in vain, is a very cool moment.
In the meantime, I would like to thank Adam Driver for being the best part of this series. And to John Boyega, I want to thank him for doing his absolute best despite the writers mostly screwing him over. You deserved so much better and were the most adorable fanboy ever!
Godzilla: King of the Monsters - Mothra's reveal
I was horribly sick over my birthday in 2018 and came across a network TV channel that showed all the Mothra movies, so of all the monsters that came out of the original Godzilla universe created by Japan, she holds a special place for me. Although used in many adverts for this latest installment in the Monster-verse, it was still a sight to behold, not just in scale, but also in beauty. In a franchise that focuses on the battles of giant monsters, the reveal of a monster aimed in showing its glorious grace rather than how distinctive it is by the scale and type of damage its likely to deal is a smart move in contrasting the types on monsters we'll be seeing.
Zombieland: Double Tap - the Zombie Kill of the Year Award
Man, that Easter Egg ending with Bill Murray was really tempting, but I just had to go with the award Columbus gave out. The award is mentioned earlier in the film, but pops up again when Columbus is about to give his and Tallahassee's Graceland kills as best of the year but finds out he's been usurped by a clever Italian named Matteo Bianchio. Matteo sets up several mannequins, then yells stereotypical tourist phrases to attract the nearby zombies. They attack the dummies while the Italian starts using a tire jack...and knocks over the Leaning Tower of Pisa onto the zombies. Yup, in any best of the year awards, this one takes it.
Oh yeah, and I can't go without mentioning Columbia Picture's clever opening. In the company introductory logo of the Columbia Lady holding her torch, the fanfare music is played, and suddenly some zombies enter the moment! Columbia then takes her torch and quickly dispatches of the zombies. This has to be the best studio opening since the 8bit Scott Pilgrim one with Universal!
Captain Marvel - Hello...kitty?
I enjoyed this film, but it seemed more generic than the majority of the origin stories from the MCU (and Brie Larson should really stop talking). Yet when I reviewed it what stood out to me was the one moment that actually did catch me off guard and impress me. Unfortunately, it doesn't involve Captain Marvel because, while I liked the movie, I found it way too predictable. The one moment that stood out for me was the one with Goose, the Flerken in cat form. It's been established for a while that Goose isn't as cute as he seems, but now that Maria and Nick are out of firepower, it's his time to shine. Four Kree warriors have them cornered, but then tentacles shoot out of Goose's mouth and snap up all four of them. Shot from the side, and then with only sound effects before the tentacles and the warriors are retracted, it's a scene that delivers shock, humor, and little bit of horror at the implications of what you don't see.
The Mandolorian - Mando goes after the Jawas
If there's anything that the Star Wars universe has definitely established, it's that Jawas are horrible people. They steal with no conscience and will do pretty much anything for money. The second episode of the series has Mando returning to his ship after he recovers Baby Yoda only to find that it has been picked apart by Jawas. In a cool scene, he snipes several of them, but they manage to escape in their crawler with all the major parts of his ship so he cannot leave the planet. He follows in pursuit and takes on the crawler by himself! He attempts to scale up the side but is constantly thwarted by crazy driving, Jawas throwing items down at him, and almost being smashed into the side of a rock face like Indiana Jones. And the best part? Baby Yoda's pod is following him the whole time. As Mando risks his life in a very futile manner, there's a baby innocently following because his pod is programmed to follow by Mando's gauntlet. It's a ridiculously fun scene! Unfortunately, Disney is Disney and doesn't like their clips out for free, but YouTuber Charlie of Emergency Awesome covered the episode and briefly looks at this scene. Skip ahead to 5.57 to watch what he shows.
Yesterday - the chat with John Lennon
Oh man, this is easily one of my favorite scenes of the year, regardless of the fantasy element. Jack and a few other people inexplicably find themselves in a world where the Beatles never existed, and he takes that opportunity to take their music and make it his own. After two others who also remember the legendary band meet with him and personally thank him for preserving the Beatles' music, they refer him to this world's John Lennon, who never became a musical icon nor was assassinated. This version of John is living life doing what he wants to be happy, and is succeeding. I don't want to explain this scene because it's just such a beautiful moment with stellar acting and spot-on casting. Enjoy!
Alita: Battle Angel - one limb is all she needs
On a very serious note here, this movie was superior to Captain Marvel in many ways, not the least of which was that Alita was a much more interesting character. Her crowning moment is when she battles Grewishka and is brutally defeated when all but one of her limbs is cut off. Even then, with only one good arm, she still doesn't back down. He taunts her before he intends to dispatch her, but she breaks free, lands perfectly on her one arm, then launches herself upwards, jams her hand into Grewishka's eye, and drops one hell of a comeback on him. This one scene at least cemented Alita as being a better written character than most of the "strong" female characters we've been told to like.
What We Do in the Shadows - the vampire tribunal
If they're played a popular vampire, they were probably here. Excluding the Twilight series (THANK GOD!). This tribunal scene features the original cast of the popular New Zealand film by Taika Waititi, and has a couple of vampires on trial for attempting to kill another, and I'm just going to leave it at that because this clip does enough to explain the situation for itself. This is only a partial clip, but if you aren't sure who the other vampires are, check out this article here.
Broadway's Beetlejuice the Musical - Beetlejuice rides the sandworm
Now here's an unorthodox one! I was blessed this year with the opportunity to see a Broadway musical, and my friends and I landed last-minute tickets to see Beetlejuice the Musical. And wouldn't you know it, they had an absolutely spectacular moment that needed to make this list! The musical does change a lot from the original Tim Burton film, especially in regards to the ending. If you recall, Beetlejuice is defeated when Barbara rides the sandworm into the house where it promptly eats the titular character. In the Broadway version, Beetlejuice is sucked into the afterlife and Juneau is the villain who needs to be defeated. When all seems lost, Beetlejuice comes bursting onto the stage riding the sandworm and waving about a cowboy hat as the sandworm eats Juneau. So here's a behind the scenes look at the show that tells you about riding "Big Sandy!"
And finally...
Avengers: Endgame - the Captain is worthy
I don't know about you, but the entire experience of seeing this movie for me was a treat. I saw it opening day and was in a theater filled with geeks, and I'm telling you, I have never seen a geek reaction to this moment EVER in my entire life! In the battle against Thanos, Thor is armed with both Stormbreaker and Mjolnir, and when they battle, Thor drops Mjolnir and Thanos is about to drive his own axe into his chest. But then Mjolnir movies, knocks Thanos away from Thor, and goes straight back...to Captain America. Even better was the line that even hearkened back to Avengers: Age of Ultron, when Thor says, "I knew it!" Never has a setup that has taken 5 years to come through been so satisfying and epic!
I would also like to mention two fan videos made to further enhance this moment. This first one added dialogue from Odin from Thor's first film, followed by the clip replayed but with Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song," notably used in the prior Thor film, Thor Ragnarok.
The next is the final battle from the film masterfully intercut with the rendition of "Holding Out for a Hero" covered by Jennifer Saunders for Shrek 2.
Honorable Not-Quite-Geeky Mention - Aunt Helene in Ready or Not
This film was just okay by me, but I absolutely have to give a big honorable mention to Nicki Guadagni who played the sinister Aunt Helene in this horror comedy. She is one of the most imposing characters I've seen all year in any form of entertainment, and she takes way too much pleasure in the idea of killing her new niece-in-law. I would definitely list this film as one to see for one character, and she would be it. Thank you, Nicki, for a performance that was way more entertaining than expected.
So this is my list for 2019! I've been saying for years that I'm trying to do more writing and I haven't been doing it, so please accept my apologies if you've been wanting to read more. I'll try to knock out at least one more for my geek blog. Otherwise, check out the new travel blog linked above!
Thanks for reading, and have a great 2020!
