So one of the nice side benefits of perpetual unemployment, other than learning to translate which Craigslist job ads are for porn (read: ALL OF THEM), is that you've got plenty of time to catch up on movies. In a first, I've actually managed to see every Best Picture nominee that the year has had to offer, so I thought I'd drop my two cents on how they all measure up. Even with snubs to both The Master, and my own personal favorite movie of the year, this is a strong selection of films, and everything on this list is absolutely worth checking out. So enjoy, and remember: I'm not an authority on these matters, I'm the ONLY* authority on these matters!!!
Oscar nominations were announced early this morning, and this year's crop of contenders was comprised of an expected blend of art house favorites, and box office hits. As predicted, Lincoln was the big winner today, scoring 12 nominations. Argo also did well for itself, but missed out on the coveted best director nod for Ben Affleck. Both were critical and commercial successes, but their shared focus on historical politics means it's likely only one will get the lion's share of awards, and that's Lincoln, hands down.
The buildup to the 85th Academy Awards has officially hit a fever pitch, as the nominations for this year’s Oscars are finally being announced. Show host Seth McFarlane will be delivering the list of films selected by the Academy from the prestigious Samuel Goldwyn Theater, being the first host to do so since 1972.
As I wrote when putting it in my top 10 list of best shows from last year, Justified’s approach to storytelling is old hat at this point. The first half of every season is mostly made up of one-off, case of the week episodes that pepper in the overarching seasonal plot throughout. The back end then slowly shifts the balance, and by the last few episodes, Raylan Givens’ collision course with the heavies floating around the fringes of Harlan County comes into sharp focus. It’s a structure that a lot of basic cable dramas follow, placing the narrative requirements of each episode somewhere between the procedural comfort of network TV, and the meticulous, novelistic planning of HBO.
This is it, the final countdown through the ten best shows of 2012. But before you get to the cream of the crop, don't forget to check out the rest of our Top 20, to see which shows wound up just shy of placement among the very best. Did old favorites live up to past glory? Was the return of Mad Men worth the long wait? And why is Nick Nolte talking to a horse? All these questions, and more, will be answered in the following pages, as well a
2012 was a great year for television. The number of shows worth watching was staggering, something I wasn’t quite fully aware of until my planned top 10 list spiraled out into a top 20 without much effort. Even drawing the line there left many deserving shows as also-rans, but when five wildly different programs were in serious contention for #1, you know the last twelve months were memorable. This year had something to satisfy just about everyone, from horror movie buffs, to mystery lovers, to those just looking for an oddball laugh. With so many interests, genres, and tastes being catered to, the phrase, “there’s nothing on,” never seemed so out of fashion.
If you refuse to play on PC then Guardians of Middle-Earth is about the only game in town if you’re interested in trying a MOBA, and it can be a pretty good one. But the simplifications in gameplay, while inviting, make for a less substantive experience, and many neophytes might simply use GoME as a stepping-stone to more complex and less-expensive games.
It’s almost too perfect that the week Oliver Queen has to faceoff against a copycat serial killer, Arrow abandons all pretense of being merely influenced by Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, and just starts ripping ideas and scenes from it whole cloth. Sure, there was the usual tonal familiarity of a tortured soul looking to avenge their lost guardian(s), and the way that nighttime Starling City constantly looks rainy and orange, but the character similarities are inescapable because that’s how the original Green Arrow was written, and you can’t blame CW for trying to imitate a good look.
As it’s the last review of the show you’ll see this year, let me just shout out one last time what it is that makes Parks and Recreation the best comedy on television, in case there’s anyone in the cheap seats who can’t hear: THE CHARACTERS. A couple weeks back, the writers paid little more than lip service to Halloween, a staple of sitcoms and dramas alike, because they had much grander designs for their episode, one based in some major personal progression for the show’s main character. A marriage proposal can be one of the fluffiest, laziest tricks a show can pull out of its ass when ratings sag, or ideas run low, but Ben’s proposal to Leslie in “Halloween Surprise” will be gracing the “Best Scenes of 2012” lists of many critics (spoilers: mine included), because it was a big moment emotionally, not just creatively.
Like so many of Arrow’s mistakes thus far, my frustration with how the Huntress arc has turned out is the result of all the pieces required to make something really good being available, but horribly mismanaged. De Gouw’s readings could be flat at times, but she was confident and kickass when in costume, and seeing another side of Oliver was important, especially now that his post-fling depression sets up some interesting new angles for the future (even though his palpable heartbreak just underscores how stupid it is that everyone automatically assumes he’s in love with Laurel).
