End of Year Review 2018

Good day to you ladies and gents, so 2018 has come to an end and it is once again time for my annual END OF YEAR REVIEW! Now I think the year has been pretty good all things considered, I’ve had an interesting rollercoaster of highs and lows, but the pros have definitely outweighed the cons. As with previous entries, I will talk about the year as a whole from my perspective, break it down into sections and then conclude with a summary. You ready? Cool, let’s go!

Video Games

2018 was a great year for gaming and looking back on everything that was released this year and comparing it to last year, it really is hard to say which year had the better selection of games to play. The games industry has had a lot of dodgy and questionable stuff going on with the ongoing issues related to gambling and microtransactions to the poor PlayStation Classic to Nintendo’s bad online service to Metal Gear Survive to Bethesda and the never-ending dramas of Fallout 76. But I will say that my overall gaming experiences were better last year because I played a lot more, however, the 2018 games that I did will stay with me for a good while. This year I finally gave into the hype and tried out Fortnight and I dabbled for a little while and gave up because I just wasn’t into it haha. I also restarted Zelda: Breath of the Wild and got lost in that world again and good god that game is SO much fun, the exploration and traversal just put me in a good mood especially when you end up playing for a good few hours. Another game  I also bought Rocket League and discovered the joys and frustrations that come with that game, I also played a fair amount of Fallout Shelter and discovered the addictive nature that comes with micromanagement and expansion, and Pokemon Quest was another one of those games that ended up getting way more of my attention than I expected, like 10 plus! 😛 But here’s my top 4 games:

1. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
2. Spider-Man PS4
3. Sonic Mania Plus
4. Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu
5. Dragon Ball FighterZ

Oh look Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is my game of the year, who would have guessed? Haha! 😛 But in all seriousness Smash is my everything, it is my favourite gaming franchise and after the E3 reveal I was all in and the game is pretty much everything I wanted. The game mechanics are as fun as ever, the music selection is AMAZING, the amount of characters to mess with is fabulous and World of Light and Classic Mode are very unique and lengthy, though the former gets a little tedious after a while and the CPU difficulty is a hell of a lot harder than before. When it comes to Spider-Man I think it would have been my game of the year if Smash hadn’t come out, I REALLY had a great time playing that game and I’m still annoyed I never reviewed it back in September. The game is best Spidey game so far with its incredible web-slinging and overall movement, the versatile combat, wonderful selection of suits and a story that takes so many wonderful aspects of Spidey’s source material and adaptations and crafts its own unique and beautiful story that’s up there will the best of the Spidey material. Thanks to the Plus DLC, I ended up revisiting Sonic Mania and fell in love again. And while I still haven’t played Encore mode yet to my shame, I did love messing around with Ray and Mighty’s new game mechanics. As for Pokemon Let’s Go I was surprised by how captivated I was for the first few days. After seeing some of the videos and positive word of mouth around the game when it released I caved in and bought the game. I loved the nostalgic feelings the game gave me from seeing the enhanced visuals to the wonderful soundtrack, and on top of that, the seeing Pokemon in the overworld was cool and the new catching mechanics being easy to do for the most part. Alas, the changes to some of the core mechanics of battling and level grinding and a lack of features from later generations meant that my engagement waned. And finally Dragon Ball FighterZ I only played for a little while but it left a really good impression on me, while I wasn’t very good at it due to its technical aspects similar to the Marvel Vs. Capcom games, but I loved the visuals, the attempt at a story mode and attention to detail when it comes to the voice acting and specific finishing attacks.

Films

For me, 2018 was a good time for films and while I didn’t watch as many films as last year, I feel like I saw most of the films that I wanted/needed to. I had a lot of fun, interesting and surprising experiences in the cinema this year but definitely tried to watch more films at home. Also for those who aren’t aware, I’m only counting films released in 2018, films originally released in 2017 that got a UK release this year DOESN’T COUNT! And with that out of the way, these are my favourite films of 2018:

Top 11 Films of 2018

1. Searching
2. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
3. Avengers: Infinity War
4. A Star Is Born
5. Annihilation
6. Crazy Rich Asians
7. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
8. Bumblebee
9. Whitney
10. Widows
11. A Silent Place

Honourable Mentions

• Bird Box 
• Incredibles 2
• Bad Times at the El Royale
• Overlord
• Creed 2
• Sorry To Bother You
• Blackkklasman
• First Man
• Black Panther
• Bohemian Rhapsody
• Ready Player One

Top 4 Worst/Disappointing Films of 2018

1. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
2. The Predator
3. Tomb Raider
4. Den of Thieves

Top 5 Surprising Films of 2018

• Crazy Rich Asians
• A Star Is Born
• Bumblebee
• Solo: A Star Wars Story
• Deadpool 2

Television

Man, my TV viewing experience for 2018 was a far cry from last year and it’s not because I’m getting bored or not interested in what’s available and more to do with the fact that I just haven’t had the bloody time to watch everything like I used to haha. 😛 That being said I was able to check out a good few shows here and there and I will say that most of them were worth watching. From finishing the super fun Tournament of Power arc in Dragon Ball Super to enjoying the second season of The Tick to really liking the direction of the first half of season 3 of Into the Badlands (which I hope comes back at some point). When it comes to new shows I liked Disenchantment with its weird sense of humour, world and ongoing storyline, I also liked Altered Carbon for its visual design, an interesting cast, and on Amazon, you had Jack Ryan which was quite captivating with its plot, cast and the concise number of episodes. Daredevil season 3 and Bojack Horseman season 5 have been my favourite TV from this year giving just wanted while also providing me with content I didn’t know that I’d love as well. And finally Lucifer‘s season 3 got really good towards the end, and for a little while my show was cancelled, but then Netflix gave us a miracle and picked it up for season 4, sweet!

Top 10 TV Shows

1. Daredevil (season 3)
2. Bojack Horseman (season 5)
3. Altered Carbon (season 1)
4. Lucifer (season 3)
5. Jack Ryan (season 1)
6. Into the Badlands (season 3)
7. The Tick (season 2)
8. Disenchantment (season 1)

Music

In 2018 I wasn’t as overly fussed about music as much as last year, there wasn’t much new music that caught my ears, however, there have a been a few new songs that have caught my ears from new and established artists which have made my year quite enjoyable. Interestingly enough a lot my favourite music hasn’t been from mainstream radio but more so from films in the cinema and other places. There have been a good few films with nice film scores from Avengers: Infinity War to Solo to Annihilation to Incredibles 2 and son. But it’s Ludwig Göransson’s score for Black Panther that I’ve remembered with “Wakanda” being my absolute favourite! Firstly there’s the return of Justin Timberlake with his Man of the Woods which was a nice album with a good variety of tracks and a catchy first single with “Filthy“. I’ve also been continuing to listen to SG Lewis and his EP, Dusk has been one of my favourite listening experiences this year with “Aura” being one of my favourite songs of the year. AFI came back with The Missing Man and I really liked that EP especially with the songs “Get Dark” and “Trash Bat“. Also, there’s the Eurovision Song Contest, I haven’t followed this event since 2010 or 2011, but this year had a good number of really good songs, but my favourite was “Dance You Off” by Benjamin Ingrosso, that song was SO catchy! And finally there’s Tee Lopes, crafter of the brilliant Sonic Mania soundtrack who released his debut album Youinverse which is wonderful, but my favourite song is awesome “Gray City Day“.

Favourite Songs

1. Ludwig Göransson – Wakanda
2. SG Lewis – Aura
3. Justin Timberlake – Filthy
4. AFI – Get Dark
5. Benjamin Ingrosso – Dance You Off
6. Tee Lopes – Gray City Day

My Experience

All things considered, 2018 was a pretty decent year and in a lot of ways has been my best year in quite some time just because, looking back on the year as a whole, I dealt with a fair amount of bullshit, but it wasn’t nearly as troublesome or time-consuming as previous years. As for the stuff I got up to, there weren’t as many crazy adventures but I did have some fun here and there and experienced some things for the first time. Firstly there was my trip to the MCM London Expo with my best friend for our 10 year anniversary since we went in 2008, I also gave blood for the first time after talking about doing it for around 5 years haha, I also attended my first hen do and first baby shower which were surreal and delightful experiences. And I also did my annual volunteering for the 5th year and it was just as fun as ever. But on top of that, I feel like I’ve started to find my creative side again with all the drawing and animation stuff I’ve been doing which has been way more than previous years. Plus my mental state of mind I think has gotten to a place where I’m stable and can live with myself and have a good outlook on life which has been great especially in the last few months.

There’s also a lot of stuff that happened in the world, too much to mention, from the ongoing fears and dramas surrounding Brexit to Theresa May and her weir “dancing skills” to the absurd amount of memes we went through from Ugandan Knuckles to Bowsette to the recent Bird Box film. And then there was the death of certain celebrities this year as well, but the main two that hurt me the most was the passing of Jon Schnepp and Stan Lee. Schnepp has been one of my favourite people to watch on AMC and then Collider because he was such a passionate nerd and taught me so much, also her Superman documentary was great and even met him 2015. So his passing just sucked. But then there was Stan Lee’s passing, that felt so surreal and unnatural. I always thought the guy would live forever and it still feels weird to talk about him in the past tense, but I sort of knew he would pass on at some point but I was not prepared at all. I am forever grateful for not only being able to meet him but for all of his creations that made me the person I am today.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this year was a good time, had some good and bad experiences, learnt some life lessons and yeah I don’t have nearly as much to complain about which can only be a good thing right? Well 2018, its been fun but its time to say goodbye, and hello to 2019 because it will be a year of big changes for me which I can’t wait to share in due time. 🙂

Well, thanks for reading. So how was your 2018? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below and finally, have a happy new year and I hope I’ll see ya in again in 2019. Laters! 😀

 

My Top 11 Films of 2018

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, how’s it going? So it is New Year’s Eve and 2018 is almost over, but before the year disappears I wanted to share with you my favourite films of the year via my podcast, Film Focus. But unlike previous years I’ve decided to do a top 11 because 1) After going through my list I just couldn’t leave the final number at ten and had to add one more. But more importantly, 2) Because I bloody feel like it and it’s my list! 😛 So if you know what kind of films that I like you may not be surprised by some of my entries, but I think there will be some that you won’t expect.

So join me as I go through some of the best films of the year that I believe you should have seen or should check out if you haven’t already.

P.S. During the Bumblebee segment I made a couple of mistakes where I meant to say a mixture of CGI and live-action instead of real life and live-action. And I also mentioned the High Moon Studios Transformers games which I meant to say were for the PS3 and Xbox 360, not the PS4.

Anyway check out my thoughts in the episode below:

As I mentioned before I’ll cover a different topic or review in each episode and since I don’t have much in the way of listeners or promotion, I’m here to spread the word about my podcast. 🙂

You can find my main site on Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

Or if you’re on iTunes subscribe and rate me on there: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/film-focus/id1114233892?mt=2

So if you have some spare time on your hands and would like to listen to the ramblings of a passionate/strange man then please check it out, and share it with your friends if you can. Also, you have any feedback or if you’d be interested in joining in future episodes be sure to let me know, until next time, laters! 😀

 

ONE PARAGRAPH REVIEW: Mary Poppins Returns

Howdy ladies and gents, for the first time in a while I’m doing a written review and I just wanted to share my quick thoughts on Mary Poppins Returns as I saw it today and wanted to talk about it. 🙂 So is this film a good watch or not? Well read on and find out! 😀

The plot can be summed up as the following: “Set in 1930s London, twenty-five years after the events of the original film, it sees Mary Poppins, the former nanny of Jane and Michael Banks, returning after a family tragedy.” So as someone who only saw the original Mary Poppins in full earlier on today (which held up fairly well I might add), I was very curious to see how this sequel would pan out, and I thought this was as a nice little sequel. The film certainly had a lot of similarities to the original in terms of the story structure and some of the problems that the main characters faced, and by the time the film concluded, a lot of the issues were resolved in quite an easy and familiar way. That being said the film did look very nice with great set design, clear, bright and distinctive visuals that call back but also expand upon the original. It was especially strange to see how much larger the exterior locations were from the original and the sense of realism due to the London locations. The soundtrack was nice and some of the new songs were pretty catchy, I also really liked the choreography of those dance scenes especially with the lamplighters who had some impressive stunt work. And the cast was solid with the performances from Emily Blunt, Ben Whishaw and Lin-Manuel Miranda being especially strong and memorable. Blunt is one of those women I will watch in anything and she did very well in this film, she emulated all of the core traits of the character from Julie Andrews nicely, Whishaw who I have liked since Skyfall is pretty good in most films and I think this may be my favourite performance because of how much emotional turmoil and struggle his character went through, and finally Miranda was essentially Bert from the first film, but he was very fun, charismatic and was probably my favourite person in the film. So in conclusion, while Mary Poppins Returns, isn’t as good as the original and felt a little too familiar to its predecessor when it worked, it worked quite well and as someone who isn’t overly keen on musicals, I enjoyed it.

So have you seen Mary Poppins Returns and if so what did you think of it? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

A Brief Look Back At The Dragon Ball Z Films

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, it’s Christmas Eve and my present to you lot is another film-related topic that is ripe for discussion and today I’m sharing my thoughts on the 15 Dragon Ball Z films via my podcast, Film Focus.

Okay so here is a subject I’ve wanted to cover for a while, and after a few delays, I finally got around got around to discussing the Dragon Ball Z films. With Dragon Ball Super: Broly recently released in Japan and the western release in cinemas dropping in January, I thought it would be interesting to revisit all 15 of the Dragon Ball Z films and see how they held up. Now I love the Dragon Ball franchise, I grew up with DBZ and the films have are an interesting collection of material that ranges from pretty awesome to very bad, and I thought it would be fun to examine each of the films briefly and discuss:

1) The pros and cons.
2) The story, characters and presentation.
3) Whether the films have gotten better or worse after my recent viewings from a subjective point of view.

So join me on an epic journey through these series of films to see which of them hold up and which ones do not. 😀

P.S. I tried my best to be as thorough and objective as possible, but this episode does feature some minor mistakes, some biased opinions and some films that don’t get as much time as others due to certain films having more interesting elements than others. So if any of this stuff bothers you, apologies in advance.

Check out my review below:

So have you seen any of the Dragon Ball Z films and if so what did you think of it? Also, which one is your favourite and are you excited for the Broly film? I really want to hear your thoughts on this film so drop your thoughts in the comments below and if you have some spare time subscribe to my podcast, Film Focus on Soundcloud and iTunes. Until next time, laters! 😀

 

DOUBLE REVIEW: Aquaman & Bumblebee

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, its review time once again and I’m back again with some new reviews in the form of Aquaman and Bumblebee via my podcast, Film Focus and I’ve shared the episode in this post for y’all to check out.

I was originally going to review both films individually but since I saw them on the same day I decided to put both reviews in the same episode. With Aquaman, I was curious about the film but trepidacious because the trailers didn’t wow me and with Bumblebee I was dubious but had hope because of Travis Knight’s direction and the good trailers. So how did these films fare? Well, listen to this episode for some fun spoiler-free thoughts on both films! 😀

Timecodes:

02:07 Aquaman
18:45 Bumblebee

Check out my thoughts on both films in episode 65 below:

P.S. I didn’t have my entire notes properly collected for these reviews so apologies if my thoughts come across as a little loose. Also, I made a mistake in the Bumblebee review where I said Simple Plan when I meant to say Simple Minds haha.

So have you seen Aquaman and Bumblebee or both? And if so what did you think of them? Whatever your thoughts are, drop them in the comments below and if you have some spare time check out my podcast, Film Focus on Soundcloud and iTunes. Until next time, laters! 😀

 

REVIEW: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, after some time away I’m back with another review and today I get to share my thoughts on Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse via my podcast, Film Focus.

Since the first trailer, I was very hyped to see this Into The Spider-Verse and the recent early positive word of mouth only made me more excited. So in this episode, I will not only be talking about this new Spidey film, but I will also be sharing my brief thoughts on Creed II and Wreck-It Ralph 2 too, you will find timecodes below. So how did these films fare? Well, listen to this episode for some fun spoiler-free thoughts on both films! 😀

Timecodes:

02:36 Creed II Review
06:19 Wreck-It Ralph 2 Review
11:13 Into The Spider-Verse Review

Check out my review below:

So have you seen Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and if so what did you think of it? Also, how do you think it compares to the other Spider-Man films? I really want to hear your thoughts on this film so drop your thoughts in the comments below and if you have some spare time subscribe to my podcast, Film Focus on Soundcloud and iTunes. Until next time, laters! 😀