I should have known when Bowie died that this year was going to be crap, especially when I saw “Gods of Egypt”. However, I did get to attend WWE SummerSlam, so that’s something.
There have been many notable deaths in the entertainment world, and politics have gone completely insane, but as the primary focus of this blog has been film and TV, I can easily state that this has been the worst year of my adult life. Never before have there been so few movies that I care to see. The 10 or so I was looking forward to were “meh” at best.
I try to be something of an optimist on this site. Wherever possible, I am looking for the positive over the negative when I give my “skinnys”. I will be frank, though- so much of this year was mediocre, one downright awful. I was stretching on some of these reviews to find the good. (I’m looking at you Warcraft and Suicide Squad), but I pulled it off.
Truthfully, there have only been two films that impressed me on any level. The Nice Guys, with its wonderful Big Lebowski vibe, and Star Trek Beyond, which actually felt like a Star Trek story.
I was suspecting that the perceived suckage was due to the Star Wars effect. I had something I’ve dreamed about for 30 years come to life and NOT suck. Perhaps this tainted me on all that followed? Sadly no. The TFA glow has long since faded and the suck continues.
I have seen 11 films so far. Looking back at the last decade, I have averaged 19 movies a year. To match, I will need 8 more films before 1/1/2017. There are not 8 additional 2016 films I am particularly interested in seeing at this time. I am hoping for a couple of surprises that lure me in for Oscar season, but for now there are six I plan on seeing:
Max Rose: The first Jerry Lewis film in 25 years. I am not sure how wide the release will be, so this one might be impossible to see.
Magnificent Seven: Remake of a remake, but the cast looks compelling. I had no interest until I saw the most recent trailer. Trailers are a tricky thing though. Look at Suicide Squad for better trailer than the actual film, and Ghostbusters for a terrible trailer that was hiding a good movie.
Inferno: I dug the first 2, and really enjoy the books. I do feel like the film series is a bit played out though. Better to probably stop, but I remain hopeful.
Doctor Strange: It looks promising, but I have no real attachment to the character. I will see it to stay up to date on the Marvel Cinematic Universe more than anything.
Fantastic beasts and where to find them: Not sure if this Harry Potter prequel will deliver. It seems like a big gamble to expand outside the books, even with Rowling’s involvement. I will see it because I adored the 8 preceding films.
Star Wars: Rogue One: I am probably going to love the shit out of it. Darth Vader returns in an all out Star Wars war movie. Holy shit.
So, out of the 6 listed above, One might not be playing near me, one had a good trailer, three are out of duty to their franchises, and the last is Star Wars. This is not a promising slate. (other than Star Wars).
Despite the dearth of 2016 films, there are a few of classic movies coming to my local art-house cinema next month: http://www.cablecarcinema.com/
The Cable Car cinema is celebrating their 40th anniversary by holding a marathon of 1976 films. Time Bandits is playing just prior to the marathon, but included in the 24 hour showing will be The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Murder by Death, The Man who fell to Earth, Rocky, and Network, among others.
Time Bandits and Pink Panther I will absolutely be seeing, they are favorites of mine, and I’ve never experienced them on the big screen. I am tempted to do the whole Marathon, but I am not 20 anymore. I find that I require sleep if I wish to function. WTF natural aging process.
Aside from Game of thrones, even television seems to suck this year. Flash and Arrow were underwhelming, and Daredevil season 2 was just ok. I stopped watching several shows as well, Agents of Shield topping that list. One show I adored- Galavant was cancelled on me. Once again- 2016 sucks. I’ve spent most of my time watching older shows and documentaries on Netflix. Danger 5, and Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries are of particular note. I have not seen stranger things yet, but many have praised it.
With the 50th anniversary of Star Trek coming up, I began watching it from the start. I am also nearly done with season 2 of The Original Series. I am aiming to watch every adventure of the original crew by original air date of September 8th. I was planning a blog series on this, but lost the drive. I am just watching for enjoyment- the best way to watch Star Trek.
I am not sure if I am just getting old, or the world is really turning to crap, but there seems to be an awful lot of crap, with a few diamonds poking out among the turds. However, as I stated above, i did get to see SummerSlam.
I loved wrestling as a kid of the 80’s and 90’s, I stopped for a while in the mid 90’s, returning with the attitude era. I tapered off around 2004-5, and only picked it up again last year.
I was never able to attend a live show as a kid, so the wife and I have been making up for it. We attended 2 Smackdown tapings in April and August of 2015. We attended the Smackdown before Wrestlemania in March of this year. We were at the Last Raw before the brand split in July, and attended the first ever Smackdown Live the next night.
This past weekend, we got to see NXT takeover Brooklyn II, and SummerSlam 2016. I’ve wanted to hit SummerSlam since I was a kid. It was always a big deal to see that show. While many matches were great, a couple of big names were injured during the show, the biggest being the new champ- Finn Balor being sidelined for 6 months due to the injuries he suffered during his championship match. He’s only been on the main roster for a month. This was his first big match. So even this sucked.
OK, rant pretty much over. TL,DR: 2016 has been sucking balls. Wrestling and Australian television have been the few highlights.
The Skinny from the Fatty 