Damn, is it the end of 2010 already? I remember ringing it in at the end of 2009 and wondering what would happen this year. And now 2010 is a day from ending. Time just bleeds away.
Crazy.
With that in mind, I decided to put out a list of my favorite things (music, movies, television, comics) for the year that was. Mind you, these are just some of my favorite things, not the definitive list. Read below and enjoy!
Favorite TV Shows
Fringe: I talked about my love for Fringe here, but I can extol a little bit more. This season has been Fringe’s best, especially in a landscape looking more and more barren by the day for quality sci-fi shows.
The Good Wife: What could have been a one-trick pony loosely based on Elliot Spitzer’s wife has grown into one of the best damn shows on TV. Toss some procedural legal cases of the week with some strained family dynamics, dirty Chicago politics, not to mention a love triangle with the lead as the prize and Kalinda into a pot and mix it together with a sprinkle or two of awesome sauce. That’s the Good Wife in an abbreviated nutshell.
Community: Still my favorite comedy on TV. Consistently funny and outrageous without being too crude. Too bad its in a crappy time slot. Watch this show!
Mad Men: What more can I say about this show that hasn’t already been said by every other fan? Its Amazing, with a capital A. Nuff said.
True Blood: Shocking little season this year. Lots of water cooler moments that you just had to talk about with fellow friends and co-workers alike. Unfortunately, the plot and the writing of a few characters (Sookie and Bill, I’m looking at you two) imploded a bit toward the end of Season 3. Regardless, still an enjoyable summer series.
Dexter: A show about a serial killer that just got renewed for a sixth season. Clearly thre has to be something good about it. This season continued to deliver the goods in terms of story and Dexter’s conflict with balancing his regular life and his moonlighting as a ‘good’ serial killer. Glad Michael C. Hall got recognized for his outstanding work with an Emmy.
Friday Night Lights: One of the best shows on TV. Deals with so much more than just football. Thank God DirecTV stepped in and let this underrated drama end on its own terms.
The Vampirie Diaries: This was a big shocker for me. My knee-jerk reaction to this show when it premiered in the 2009-2010 season was ‘Great. Twilight for TV. NEXT.’
But I kept hearing how awesome the show was, so I gave it a chance. DAMN is this show good! Far better than it deserves to be.! Far better than True Blood. Yes, I said it. Truth!
And I’ve got to respect a show not afraid to kill off popular characters. Who’d have thunk it? Glad I jumped on this band wagon!
Favorite Comic Books
Uncanny X-Force: Given my frustration with the current state of the X-Books, another comic featuring Wolverine and many other of the X-Men’s resident bad-asses was not on my to-do list. But I gave it a read and am still interested. The premise is simple. After Cyclops disbanded X-Force, Wolverine and Archangel reformed it without telling him as they still see the need for it. Now they are tasked with killing a reborn Apocalypse before he regains power. Only one issue. Apocalypse is just an innocent little kid who has no knowledge of his past life as a long-lived mutant despot, but is getting caught up to speed by his xenophobic overprotective minions. Drama! All-in-all its a great book that works so much better since it only focuses on about six X-characters. I’ll be sticking around for this one!
Invincible: I have been reading this book off and on, but it still remains to be one of the best comics on the market today. Especially now that the culmination of at least 5-6 years worth of storylines involving the titular character’s heritage is coming to fruition.
Dark Wolverine: I’ve made my thoughts on the over-exposed Wolverine issue very clear. But the portrayal of the Canucklehead’s evil son Daken has been one of those awesome twists that made what could have been a throwaway character a standout MVP for Marvel in 2010. Thanks in no small part to Marjorie Liu, Daken’s run as the ‘new’ Wolverine during Dark Reign and Siege made both Marvel crossover events much more tolerable. Lets hope they keep up the good work now that Daken has his own monthly.
Favorite Movies
The Kings Speech: Read my thoughts here.
Machete: Danny Trejo finally gets a starring role! And it was awesome. A fun, over the top parody featuring tons of talented actors hamming it up for the camera. Its offensive at times, but its done in such a tongue and cheek fashion that you can’t help but laugh. Also, Steven Seagal doing a cheap Mexican accent? Priceless!
Scott Pilgrim vs The World: Based on the comic of the same name, this movie amazed me at every turn. Great story, hilarious dialogue, amazing meld of visual effects and live action. Plus, it really did feel like you were watching a comic book brought to life. All in all this movie rocked and was a love letter to old school video game fans (The movie had me at the 8-bit NBC Universal title intro). Loved it!
The Book of Eli: A post-apocalyptic flick by the Hughes Brothers starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman and the extremely talented Mila Kunis. I liked this a lot more than I intended to, especially given its early January release (usually not a good sign for any movie). The Book of Eli had great action scenes, a tight plot and a satisfying climax. Can’t ask for much more in a movie.
Inception: One of the best high concept sci-fi movies done in a while. Mind-bending and trippy, plus an ending that kept people guessing. Literally as soon as the credits rolled, a solid half of the audience shouted out ‘WHAT?!?!’ Plus it had a fantastic Hans Zimmer score.
127 Hours: James Franco did some of his best acting work here, and Danny Boyle made this tale of a man who has to maim himself in order to save his own life fascinating. The sites and sounds of Canyonlands National Park, as well has Franco’s Aron Ralston hallucinating through memories and mistakes kept me rapt with attention. Yes, the amputation scene was actually painful to watch, but it still worked and should not deter people from seeing this truly great film.
The Social Network: When I heard they were doing a Facebook movie, I like everyone else asked ‘Why?’ Now, I’m like ‘OH.’ Loved this movie. The dialogue, the directing, the acting. Everything worked.
Favorite Albums/Soundtracks
Gorillaz – Plastic Beach: At first I was a little puzzled by this latest album from the Gorillaz, a group I got into later than most fans. It just felt so homogeneous and melancholy. But I gave it a few more listens after playing Stylo at a party some weeks ago. Yes, its still rather melancholy, but that doesn’t take away the fact that its an amazingly diverse musical work. Also, it gave me some ideas for one of my writing project. Can’t beat that.
Inception Original Score: Just like Plastic Beach before it, it took me a few more listens before I really embraced how truly great this soundtrack was. Ethereal and memorable, not too mention great writing music (always a plus in my book)
Goldfrapp – Head First: Now this was the follow up album I wanted to hear after Supernature, as Seventh Tree fell a bit flat for me. The album featured a more ABBA-esque power disco sound that worked on every level.
Norah Jones – The Fall: I pretty much love everything Norah Jones does. This album was no exception. While it was not as good as ‘Not Too Late’ (my favorite Norah Jones album to date), it had a newer sound and some great tracks like ‘You Ruined Me’ and ‘Young Blood’.
In closing
This has been an interesting year in entertainment. Would have included my favroite books, but I’ve only ready like 2 or 3 (yes, I’m a slow-ass reader). I’m looking forward to what 2011 will bring. I’ve have to make a list of what I’m looking forward to.
Leave a Reply