My Year in Movies and TV
Preamble
I talked before about having a theme instead of a resolution, to use as a point to follow through the year. I mentioned then that I came across this idea for the Cortex podcast and that you could go deeper there. Since then, though, CGP Grey made a YouTube video that sums up this idea very well. I think you should all check it out, it does a much better job explaining the concept than I do.
2019 Year in Screen Watching
As I shared my year in books, I want to share the movies and TV shows I watched last year as well. I think this list covers my year pretty well.
TV Shows
In my previous Media Diet issue I had shared my notes on the shows I had seen at that point if you want further info on them you can check that out, but here is the abbreviated version;
- Game of Thrones - (B-)
- The Newsroom - (B+)
- Rick and Morty - (B+) - Since this list was made, season four has started, but isn’t finished yet.
- The Magicians - (A-) - The fifth season of this just kicked off last month
- Russian Doll - (B+)
With a few new services starting up and wanting to put their best foot forward, I feel like there were a lot of new shows I checked out.
- The Morning Show - What was shown to be the biggest show to come out of Apple TV+’s new service, I think it lived up to that. It was a good 10 episode start, and the last episode really blew things up. I look forward to it coming back. Anyone who likes more dramatic behind the scenes of a news show should check this out. (A-)
- For All Mankind - The other Apple TV+ show that I watched, this one was given much less attention, but in many ways was the better show. The concept of an alternate reality space race was great, the cast is excellent, and there is a lot of edge of your seat moments. I look forward to the next season of this one as well. (A)
- The Mandalorian - I am going to assume most of you have seen this, but what’s not to love? If you haven’t seen it, why are you still reading this…? (A)
- Mr. Robot - The final season of this show was great, all the seasons were great, I love that it just felt like they were seeing how far they could push things with making TV shows. (A-)
- Watchmen - When this show was being promo’d, I was skeptical of it, but they proved me wrong on every front. They knocked this one out of the park. I am worried that because it was so successful, they will try and push a second season, I don’t think it needs one. (A)
- Silicon Valley - Another show that came to an end this year. I will miss this one. The ending wasn’t quite what I expected, but this is a hilarious show. You should check it out if you haven’t. (B+)
- Dark - This is a weird one, I wouldn’t recommend it to most people. Unless you have a love for bizarre time travel or parallel universe stories, or just love German acting. If you do like those, though, this is for you. It is a Netflix Original, so most of you probably have access to it. (B+)
- Stranger Things Season 3 - I liked this season better than the second season. It was more fun and very 80’s. (B)
- Mindhunter Season 2 - This is still a great show. This season was a little more focused on one storyline but still really good. They have put it on hold now, so we may never get a third season, but fingers crossed that we will. (A-)
- The Office - We finally got through all of the Office. I had seen an episode or three when it was on but didn’t watch it then. It was great, though. And while it exists on a platform we have, it has joined Parks and Rec and Friends as constant just-put-it-on-in-the-background-or-at-night shows to watch again and again. (A)
Movies
Like with the shows, here is a brief overview of the movies I had shared earlier this year;
- The Lego Movie 2 - (A)
- Bohemian Rhapsody - (C+)
- Ingrid Goes West - (B+)
- The Informant! - (C)
- BlacKkKlansman - (B)
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse - (A+)
- Captain Marvel - (B-)
- Avengers: Endgame - (A-)
- Vice - (B+)
- Wish I Was Here - (B+)
There were fewer new movies in the second part of the year, but I feel like I go in spurts with movies. I will go a while without seeing any, then see a bunch in a row. I think it also has to do with them being more of a time commitment, it is easier to commit to a 20-40 minute show than it is to a two-hour movie.
- Spider-Man Far from Home - Keeps some of the fun of the first Spider-Man movie, a little weirder, though. (B-)
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - I have a lot of thoughts on this one, I will share them in more detail later. (B?)
- Marriage Story - A well-made movie with a great cast. It felt real, which is what they set out to do, I suppose. (B+)
- Groundhog Day - I expected this to be a lot more dumb humor than it was, it had a good message, and it was pretty good for a movie from the early ’90s. (B+)
- Tag - This is a fun movie to see, but looking back, I hardly remember I even watched it. If you want a fun dumb movie, here you go. (B-)
- All the President’s Men - This movie sort of falls right into what I love, heavy on the investigation side of things. It was made in the ’70s, so it felt old, but it was still well made. I remember thinking it felt like it just ended very suddenly. (B+)
Postamble
I had meant to get this out a few weeks ago, but a stretch of sickness followed by a busy vacation lead to a longer delay than I would have liked. Always trying to get back to that regular schedule, though. Hopefully, the bitter cold will be over after today, the groundhog did promise an early spring after all.
Thanks for reading,
Mike