End of Year Review 2020

Good day to you ladies and gentlemen and welcome to my annual End of Year Review where I look back on the year and highlight certain things that were interesting to me. So 2020, I think we can all agree that this year has been a bloody disaster, but in the midst of the chaos and despair, there has been some bright spots for sure. So as per usual, I will talk about the year as a whole from my perspective, break it down into sections and then conclude with a summary. So without further ado let’s begin.

Video Games

2020 has been an interesting year for us gamers, even though the pandemic really messed with a lot of development and left certain games released incomplete or pushed back to next year, there have been a number of good releases across all consoles, and we even got the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, well sort of as there was a lot of scalpers.

As for me, I ended up playing quite a few games, some old ones and a few new ones as well. Since getting stuck back in the UK in March I was able to play my PS4 and finally play Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Horizon: Zero Dawn, the former I enjoyed besides some crazy game-breaking glitches and the latter which was fun but not as captivating as I had hoped. I even back to some of my older Nintendo Switch games like Child of Light, Terriria and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (especially after sephiroth came out).

But what about new games? Well like everyone else I jumped in on Animal Crossing: New Horizons and had stupid amounts of fun messing around on my island and reconnecting with friends online. Streets of Rage 4 had a wonderful presentation and was pretty good even if I didn’t play it as much as I would’ve liked. Also Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition was a delight and though it got a little hard at times, I frigging love the gameplay and the beautiful upgrades to the visuals and audio. A Short Hike came out of nowhere to be one of my favourite relaxing gaming experiences since I played Animal Crossing: Wild World in 2008. And then, of course, there was Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which even on PS4 was a visual delight with a badass soundtrack, cool quality-of-life upgrades to the established gameplay and story which was captivating. Now sure the game got a little glitchy and it probably could’ve been priced a little lower, but I had a great time regardless. And finally Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a game I’m still working my way through, but I’m having a lot of fun with because of the varied combat options for the characters, the awesome music and nice character moments in the story. It is a little repetitive towards the 20-hour mark, but I will hopefully I’ll get back to it the next week or so. The only game missing from this list is Final Fantasy VII Remake, I did buy it in the summer, but wanted to dedicate time to Animal Crossing and play through the original FFVII up to the point where Remake ends, so I’ll probably play it January.

Top 6 Games

1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
2. Spider-Man: Miles Morales
3. Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition
4. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
5. Streets of Rage 4
6. A Short Hike

Films

Watching films in 2020 has been weird. I can still remember being in Canada near the start of the year watching Bad Boys, Birds of Prey, Sonic and The Invisible Man, then the pandemic hit and everything got shut down (well it did in the UK). Some films were pushed back to the end of the year, some moved to streaming services and some have no release date at all. The pandemic really hit the industry hard with a lot of cinemas getting closed down from indie theatres to big chains like my very own Cineworld. And since watching films at the cinema is one of my favourite things to do it has left me feeling pretty sour. Though it wasn’t all doom and gloom as there were a number of films that showed up on streaming, from Netflix to Amazon to Disney Plus and so on, and while I was late to the party with a lot of these entries, I was glad that I was so inquisitive as I ended up finding a lot of surprising films online this year.

Top 10 Films of 2020

1. Over the Moon
2. The Trial of the Chicago 7
3. Soul
4. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
5. Da 5 Bloods
6. Elona Holmes
7. The Way Back
8. The Devil All the Time
9. Gretel & Hansel
10. Leftover Women

So this list was incredibly hard to put together and I imagine if I had more time I’d be shuffling these around and adding more films from this year’s slate especially if I were still able to go to the available cinemas in Vancouver. But hey it is what it is. I am only sad I had to take The Invisible Man off of my list as I had SO much fun with that film, however, the films I ended up with resonated with me on a higher frequency. I’m sure I’ll be doing a lot of catching up next year so I look forward to that.

Honourable Mentions

• The Invisible Man
• Robin’s Wish
• Bad Boys For Life
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Extraction
• The Social Dilemma
• Borat 2
• Fatman
• Bill and Ted Face the Music
• Tenet

Television

When it comes to TV it’s funny, I haven’t watched that much, to be honest. You’d think with a pandemic that kept me indoors for the majority of the year I would have watched a lot more. But to be honest not too many things really tickled my fancy besides returning shows. I mainly went back in time and rewatched all of Parks and Rec, and I’m still working my way through Grimm and Fringe with my family. I also found myself finally getting around to Hunter x Hunter which has been really fun so far, I also finally saw the second season of Mob Pyscho 100 which was amazing and I’m also going through Outlaw Star the whole way through too.

The only new show I saw was Close Enough, another beautifully wacky show from the creator of Regular Show. Beyond that, I really loved The Boys season 2 which was suitably insane, violent, layered and entertaining throughout. Closely followed behind would be The Mandalorian‘s second season which was more cohesive and had some great character development for Mando, gorgeous music and incredible world-building with the introduction of Clone Wars and Rebels elements. The new season of Umbrella Academy was pretty good, Lucifer returned and was decent, but not as engaging as before, and Big Mouth continued to be vulgar and uncomfortable, but also incredibly accurate and relatable to the troubles of adolescence and race.

Top 6 TV

1. The Mandalorian Season 2
2. The Boys Season 2
3. Close Enough
4. Umbrella Academy Season 2
5. Big Mouth Season 4
6. Lucifer Season 5

Music

Unlike last year, music has been my everything and I also believe this is the year I have put the most amount of work into finding new music and luckily I’ve found some great stuff old and new. I have found myself consumed with Anita Baker, Level 42, Issues and Foo Fighters, alongside the new and classic sounds of Calvin Harris, John Paesano, Drama, Victoria Monét and SG Lewis. I’ve found new and delightful music in all sorts of unexpected places, from Lecrae’s Restoration album to Another Sky’s album, I Slept On The Floor. It was actually tough to put a list together because I had too many choices, but below I believe those are my favourites from the year.

Top 5 Albums

1. Lecrae – Restoration
2. Another Sky – I Slept On The Floor
3. Drama – Dance Without Me
4. Victoria Monét – Janguar
5. John Paesano – Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Top 10 Favourite Songs

1. SG Lewis – Feed the Fire
2. Victoria Monét – Experience
3. Kid Cudi – Leader of the Delinquents
4. John Paesano – New York’s Only Spider-Mn
5. deadmau5 – Pomegranate
6. Calvin Harris – Over Now
7. Yebba – Distance
8. Janelle Monae – Turntables
9. Pharrell – Entrepreneur
10. Wiz Khalifah – Speed Me Up

My Experience

Man, I think it goes without saying that this year has been a big fat mess. I was in Canada, flew back to the UK for a quick excursion in March and got stuck here, I have gone through multiple funks, had creative block while working on projects and a general lack of enthusiasm especially towards the summer. That being said, through all the negativity of this pandemic stuff, especially here in the UK, there has been a lot of positives that have come to pass as well. I wanted to highlight the main points below:

• I turned 30 this year and was lucky enough to have a birthday gathering before the first lockdown happened
• I reconnected with so many friends online
• I really got into my artwork and even got paid for it

Its funny, not a lot has happened and yet so much has changed for me especially with my creativity and mindset being way more focused and positive than ever before. That being said I have missed al my peeps in Canada, I miss my job, the food, locations and vibe of Vancouver and I have no clue when I’ll be able to return. But overall I’m still rocking and very positive about the future

Conclusion

In conclusion, 2020 has been a bit of a shit show but some good has emerged and has had a positive effect on me. So I’m sure next year will be filled with so much creative content for me. But like everyone else I’m ready to kick this year to the curb and never speak of it again, so I’m gonna go back to my drinks and I’ll see ya in 2021!

Well, thanks for reading. So how was 2020 for you? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below and finally, have a safe and happy new year and I’ll see ya in 2021. Laters! 😀

 

Double Review: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom & Soul

Howdy ladies and gentlemen of the internet, I hope y’all had a good Christmas break. But today I am here to share my thoughts on both Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Soul via my podcast Film Focus.

On episode 111 of Film Focus, I’ve got another double review for y’all in the form of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Soul. These are films I’ve had my eye on for a while. With Soul, I’ve been super intrigued about the film because of the great teaser trailer released last year. And Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom I was down to see because of the cast and premise. And since I saw both films within a week of each other and they had some similar elements, I thought I’d review both in the same episode. So how did these films fare? Well, listen to this episode for some spoiler-free thoughts on both films! 😀

Timecodes:

02:00 Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Review
14:00 Soul Review

Anyway here’s the review:

Film Focus · Episode 111 – Double Review: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom & Soul

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So have you seen Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Soul and if so what did you think of it? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

Double Review: Peninsula & Fatman

Howdy ladies and gentlemen of the internet, yeah I’m still alive haha. Today I am here to share my thoughts on both Peninsula and Fatman via my podcast Film Focus.

On episode 110 of Film Focus, I’m back and bringing you yet another double film review for the sequel to Train to Busan; Peninsula and the unconventional Christmas film; Fatman. So how did these films fare? Well, listen to this episode for some spoiler-free thoughts on both films! 😀

Timecodes:

02:11 Peninsula Review
11:38 Fatman Review

Anyway here’s the review:

Film Focus · Episode 110 – Double Review: Peninsula & Fatman

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So have you seen Peninsula and Fatman and if so what did you think of it? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

Double Review: One Night in Bangkok & Gretel & Hansel

Howdy ladies and gentlemen of the internet, yeah I’m still alive haha. Today I am here to share my thoughts on both One Night in Bangkok and Gretel & Hansel via my podcast Film Focus.

On episode 109 of Film Focus, I’ve got another double review for One Night in Bangkok and Gretel & Hansel. Both films I found while scanning through Amazon Video and I had an interest in both films for different reasons. So how did these films fare? Well, listen to this episode for some spoiler-free thoughts on both films! 😀

Timecodes:

02:23 One Night in Bangkok Review
10:21 Gretel & Hansel Review

Anyway here’s the review:

Film Focus · Episode 109 – Double Review: One Night in Bangkok & Gretel & Hansel

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So have you seen One Night in Bangkok and Gretel & Hansel and if so what did you think of it? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

Video Game Adaptations Part 1

Howdy ladies and gentlemen of the internet, hope you are all well. So after many months and years of waiting and retooling, I finally get to cover part 1 of a topic that’s very special to me; Video Game Adaptations via my podcast Film Focus.

Now I am extremely passionate about video game adaptations as I believe they have the potential to be the next big genre in Hollywood if the right IPs are adapted with the right filmmakers. Alas since their inception there has been a lot of missteps in translating their unique elements from games to film.

So I wanted to look back at the first wave of video game films from the ’90s and have a casual analysis about 5 films and discuss:

• When the came out
• Their pros and cons
• How they were adapted from their source material

I had a lot of fun making this and you’ll probably hear the passion in my voice from how loud I can be on occasions haha. So join me on a trip down memory lane as we dive into the early period of video game adaptations.

Timecodes:

05:32 Super Mario Bros. Movie
15:17 Double Dragon
21:46 Street Fighter
30:21 Mortal Kombat
44:30 Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
53:34 Conclusion

Anyway here’s the review:

Film Focus · Episode 108 – Video Game Adaptations Part 1

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So have you seen any of these films and if so what did you think of them? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

Double Review: Borat 2 & The Trial of the Chicago 7

Howdy ladies and gentlemen of the internet, yeah I’m still alive haha. Today I am here to share my thoughts on both Borat 2 and The Trial of the Chicago 7 via my podcast Film Focus.

On episode 107 of Film Focus, I have another double review for you in the form of Borat 2 and The Trial of the Chicago 7. With Borat 2 I was just curious to see how this sequel would turn out since its been almost 15 years since the last one. And The Trial of the Chicago 7 I have been intrigued by since January due to the premise, cast and Aaron Sorkin’s involvement. So how did these films fare? Well, listen to this episode for some spoiler-free thoughts on both films! 😀

Timecodes:

01:58 Borat 2 Review
13:00 The Trial of the Chicago 7Review

Anyway here’s the review:

Film Focus · Episode 107 – Double Review: Borat 2 & The Trial of the Chicago 7

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So have you seen Borat 2 and The Trial of the Chicago 7 and if so what did you think of it? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

Double Review: The New Mutants & Mulan

Howdy ladies and gentlemen of the internet, yeah I’m still alive haha. Today I am here to share my thoughts on both The New Mutants and Mulan via my podcast Film Focus.

On episode 106 of Film Focus, I returned from woods of the internet with a double review for The New Mutants and Mulan. These reviews are a little on the late side as I had planned to have them done closer to 3 weeks ago, however, I had a lot to do with my illustrations and problems with my laptop that kept things from happening faster. However, after seeing Mulan especially, I needed to share my thoughts. So I have put both reviews into one episode. So how did these films fare? Well, listen to this episode for some spoiler-free thoughts on both films! 😀

Timecodes:

02:52 The New Mutants Review
12:27 Mulan Review

Anyway here’s the review:

Film Focus · Episode 106 – Double Review: The New Mutants & Mulan

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So have you seen The New Mutants and Mulan and if so what did you think of it? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

QUICK REVIEW: Blood and Water Season 1

Howdy ladies and gents, I’m back with my first TV for a while in the form of Blood and Water. Now I can’t recall how I found out about this show, I think it may have been due to Simu Liu’s involvement. Whatever the case is, I added to my watch list on Amazon Video recently due to the intriguing premise and as someone who has been residing in Canada over the past year, I wanted to check out more of their original material. So I finished the first season yesterday morning and felt compelled to talk about it as there doesn’t seem to be many reviews about it online.

The plot can be summed up as the following:

“When Charlie Xie, son of billionaire real estate developer Li-Rong Xie, is found murdered, Police Detective Josephine Bradley is brought in to investigate, despite having just been diagnosed with cancer.”

So the story was pretty good and more engaging than I expected. Now I have seen a fair amount of crime dramas and at first, this show was hitting a lot of familiar beats, but after a while, it finds its groove and I was compelled to see how the story progressed especially in the latter half of the season. The major themes revolve around family, legacy, secrets and lies, and uncovering the truth. At first, things play out in a usual fashion, but as we dive deeper into the Xie family drama and secrets and the personal issues that Det. Bradley, my interest kept rising with each episode leaving me wanting more. I think part of that was due to the runtime. Each episode clocks in at around 23 minutes which is 20 minutes less than your standard American show, and with this season being 8 episodes long, it moves at a swift pace, yet feels like it has the appropriate amount of time to tell its story. Also due to the majority of the characters being Chinese, there are more where the characters flow between talking English and their native languages of Cantonese and Mandarin. It is very rare for shows that involve other races to highlight their culture beyond just surface-level material, but this felt like it went deeper by incorporating family relationships, mythology and especially the language into the story in a way that felt realistic and respectable. The presentation is also solid. Visually the show is shot well and has a moody atmosphere highlighted by low lighting and a muted colour palette. And since the show is set in Vancouver it was fun recognising certain exterior locations as well. The music was fine, but one thing I didn’t like was the opening music, it’s just a complete downer and doesn’t have a unique or memorable sound to it.

Moving onto the cast, they were all really good in their roles and only got better as the season continues. Firstly there’s police detective Josephine Bradley played by Steph Song who handles her role very well with subtly. Bradley’s tough, stubborn and doesn’t always play by the rules, but she’s passionate about her job and only wants to help. Charlie Xie played by Osric Chau mainly shows up in flashbacks, but I enjoyed Chau’s performance and his screen time with his family. Loretta Yu also does a good job as Charlie’s widow, Teresa. She had a troubled history with drugs and due to her relationship with Charlie, it puts her at odds with his family. Charlie’s father, Li-Rong ‘Ron’ Xie is played very well by Oscar Hsu. Ron is a man who is prideful and while he cares for his family, he’s a tough and cold businessman who is concerned with his public image. Fiona Fu as Weiran Xie, the matriarch of the Xie family, she carries herself with dignity and while she’s reserved, she can also be ardent and not afraid to speak her mind. Elfina Luk is also quite good as Anna, Charlie’s sister who is the most level-headed of the family and the closest to her deceased brother. And then there’s Simu Liu as Charlie’s brother Paul. He was my favourite. Paul, like his sister, is pretty well-headed and calm, but he holds a lot of pain and secrets which comes to light as the story progresses. By the end of the season, his character was the most captivating character and Liu’s performance was fantastic. I can see why Marvel picked him up for Shang Chi. And finally, Peter Outerbridge was decent as detective Al Gorski, Bradley’s seasoned partner who doesn’t always agree with her but also offers advice.

 In conclusion, Blood and Water season 1 was different than I expected and took a little while to get going, but when it worked it was pretty engaging and overall I enjoyed it. I would recommend it.

 

Tenet Review

Howdy ladies and gentlemen, today I return with another review of a film I have been very curious to check out for a while in the form of Tenet via my podcast Film Focus.

A couple days I took my first trip back to the cinema for the first time since March to finally check out Tenet; the latest film by Christopher Nolan. Now I’d been looking forward to this film since the teaser trailer came out and was immediately intrigued and engaged by the crazy imagery and cast members involved. So is this another great film for Nolan’s filmography? Well, check out this spoiler-free review to find out.

Anyway here’s the review:

Film Focus · Episode 104 – Tenet Review

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So have you seen Tenet and if so what did you think of it? Did you love it or dislike it? And did it meet or exceed your expectations? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

PODCAST: Disturbing Films

Howdy ladies and gentlemen of the internet, I’ve returned with a topic I have wanted to talk about for a while now and it relates to the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot coming out in March 2021. And I’ll be sharing my thoughts via my podcast Film Focus.

On episode 103 of Film Focus, I discuss disturbing films alongside my newest guest and friend Ross. Each of us has 4 films which we find disturbing in a specific way and as we discuss them, we also link each film with a unified theme including:

• Films that are tough to watch but worth watching
• Feelin bad for the characters
• Good atmosphere
• A bold introduction

The films we’ll be discussing are The Nightingale, Perfect Blue, Requiem for a Dream, Climax, Annihilation, Seven, Don’t Look Now and Our Evil. So join us on a casual discussion of these troubling yet entertaining films. Oh and be aware that we’ll essentially be talking spoilers for all of the films involved to varying levels. That being said Annihilation and Seven were the films we talked very specific spoilers and they were at 51:05 and 1:01:02.

Here’s the episode:

Film Focus · Episode 103 – Disturbing Films

If you haven’t checked out my podcast before you can find it here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

So what did you think of our choice of disturbing films? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀