Animation is a form of filmmaking that is often related to second-tier status, something just for kids. This is by both the organisations giving out the awards and also by the very guilds that are meant to be promoting their member’s work. However, they are not second-tier films, and in many ways, it is the animated films that are pushing the frontiers of filmmaking and what is possible, and they should be championed for the work that they do.
Animated films can be hand-drawn, stop/clay motion, computer-generated, it does not matter, but all of them show amazing techniques of hundreds of artists that bring the work to life.
So without further ado, these are the animated films that showed us the glory of animation in 2019. Be warned that there may be some slight spoilers ahead for the films in question. Also, click on the banners to go to the full reviews of each of the films
A good Action sequence is something that is truly amazing to watch, as it can be as expansive as explosions crashing across the screen, or more intimate, like a duel between two people. This gives the best action scenes such a range and in 2019 we were given some truly amazing spectacles.
For me, the best action scenes are those that excel in every element, whether that be live actions, special effects, digital effects, or animation and bring every facet to shine. It is also the category that looks at some of the department’s people don’t often fully understand like stunt coordination or the 2nd unit.
So without further ado, these are the moments of action that awed us in 2019. Be warned that there may be some slight spoilers ahead for the films in question. Also, click on the banners to see the reviews of each film.
TL;DR – A really great continuation of the first season showing the strengths of this new interpretation at every turn
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
We are currently living through a second Golden Age for Science Fiction on TV and one of the first really cool examples of that was a new Lost in Space landing on our screens a couple of years ago. It was energetic, delightful, but also had some thematic weight behind it. Well, Season Two is upon us, so it’s time to see how well it did.
So to set the scene, at the end of Season One, the family Robinson, that is Maureen (Molly Parker), John (Toby Stephens), Will (Maxwell Jenkins), Judy (Taylor Russell), and Penny (Mina Sundwall) along with Don West (Ignacio Serricchio) and Dr Smith (Parker Posey) got launched through a warp portal by Robot (Brian Steele) to protect them. This leads them to land on a planet that is habitable, bar all the methane in the atmosphere. The warp drained most of the Jupiter 2’s power meaning they can breathe and stay warm but not a whole lot else. All of this changes when Maureen notices that there is a patch of lightning in the distance that comes so regularly that you can schedule it, and maybe a lighting jolt is just what the Jupiter 2 needs. Now as we go on there will be some [SPOILERS] as we will be looking at the season as a whole, so just be warned if you have not seen it yet.
TL;DR – We have a crew, repeat we have a crew, this is not a drill
Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
For the first three episodes of the season Remembrance, Maps and Legends, and The End is the Beginning, it felt like we were setting the scene, getting our call to adventure, our call to the stars, we were building the world, and in one word bringing it all together. But now we are in space, and it is simply pure joy.
So to set the scene, we start back in time in a fateful time where Picard (Patrick Stewart) on Vashti when he was happy. He was starting to move people out of Romulus, making friends, establishing real progress, however, then the synthetics attacked Mars and everything went to hell. In the present, the crew of the La Sirena have come together on their task, only now that they are in the Beta Quadrant, Picard has another calling, to meet some friends from the past and write some past wrongs. Now we will be looking at the episode as a whole so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – A fun episode with a returning great guest star but a lacklustre b-plot
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
Like most half-an-hour comedy shows Brooklyn Nine-Nine usually has an A and a B plot that different character appears in and maybe come together in the end. However, sometimes one of the plot points just works so much better than the other that it can’t help but overshine it. Well, this might be the problem we have today.
So to set the scene, Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero) decided last week that they were not going to hold off having a baby and that they would start trying right away. Well, things are progressing but everything gets turned on its head when Pimemento (Jason Mantzoukas) burst into the precinct stating that someone is trying to kill him, but then he can’t remember more than 24 hours ago and that 24 hours is from 5 months in the past. Now we will be looking at the episode as a whole so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – This is a list of not what we think will actually win in today’s 2020 Academy Awards, but who we would give the awards to if we could
Article –
It is Oscars time again, and for the first time in a long time I can’t watch the ceremony live, but that does not mean I can’t enjoy the vicariously through the form of an article. So here we will be going through all the nominees and picking which ones we would have picked if we were a voting member of the academy.
Now, I should preface this with the notice that we have not seen every film nominated, so we will only be picking form those we have seen. To be fair, we will only be covering the categories where we have seen at least three of the nominees. Also, if you would like to see our reviews for said films you can clink on the links to be taken to them. So with out any further prattling on here are the nominees.
I actually quite liked all the nominees in this category, even the films that didn’t quite grab me like Once in Hollywood and Marriage Story you could tell was still well written. However, I think one did just make it out on top and that has to be Bong Joon-ho & Han Jin-won exploration of class and wealth in modern South Korea.
TL;DR – We have a crew, repeat we have a crew, this is not a drill
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review –
Okay, if I am going to be honest, if there is one thing that will always sucker me into a show, it is a group desperate people coming together to form a crew. Well, today, we get to see Picard (Patrick Stewart) do it all again and I am here for it.
So to set the scene, in last week’s Maps and Legends we learned a couple of important things. First, there is either a Romulan mole in the midst of Starfleet in the guise of Head of Starfleet Intelligence Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita) or the head of Starfleet Intelligence is like just kill with Romulan assassin squads romping around Earth … I’m not sure which is worse. Also secondly, we discovered that Picard or JL to his friends has burnt all the goodwill he had left in Starfleet. Well, what do you do when all your options are closed, well it’s time to wing it Picard style. Now we will be looking at the episode as a whole so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – An episode that looks to both the past and the future at the same time.
Score – 4.5 out of 5 stars
Review –
Well if there is one thing better than having a new episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, well it is having two new episodes back-to-back and today that is just what we get. We’ve already looked at Manhunter, so now let take some time to explore Captain Kim, both the character Captain Kim (Nicole Bilderback) but also the episode.
So, to set the scene, with Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) no longer a captain after his year-long demotion, the Nine-Nine needs a new captain and no one is really happy about that. Well, that’s not a problem, sure the captain is probably a spy planted there to make their lives a misery, but then they have dealt with this before … well, maybe not quite this before. Now we will be looking at the episode as a whole so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – A great welcome back and set up for the rest of the season
Score – 4 out of 5 stars
Review – Sometimes there is a joy in just getting to sit down with old friends and chat and laugh and enjoy your time together. Well occasionally you can have TV shows that can feel just the same way and for me, one of those shows is Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Over the years there have been so many close calls, that any new episode is a moment of joy and today we get to look at the first episode of a seventh season, two more than I thought we would get.
So, to set the scene, in Sicko/Suicide Squad at the end of last season, the Nine-nine squad was successful in thwarting the evil police commissioner, but it came at a price. Captain Holt (Andre Braugher) had to step down as captain after letting slip that he never did his one-year mandatory time as a uniform beat-cop. All of a sudden, the power roles have been reversed and it is Jake (Andy Samberg) giving Holt the orders, and well that goes about as well as you expect it too. Now we will be looking at the episode as a whole so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
TL;DR – This series continues to be the benchmark for modern Science Fiction, the benchmark for novel adaptation, and the benchmark for great TV.
Score – 5 out of 5 stars
Review –
Last year I wrote an article about how we are in a new Golden Age of Science Fiction and at the heart of that theses was the joy that was The Expanse. At the time Season Three had come out, and we still were not sure if that would be the end of the TV show. It would have been sad if the show’s story had ended there, but at least we still had the books, which was a little consolation. However, I was overjoyed to hear that it got a last-minute pick-up for Season Four on Amazon, ecstatic when I discovered that it was already greenlit for Season Five, and over the moon now that I have watched Season Four and have discovered the joy that it is.
So to set the scene, at the end of last season, disaster had been forestalled and new opportunities have arrived when thousands of gates to thousands of new solar systems opened up. Fearing the new disaster that could come for an out of control gold rush, or worse a new proto-molecule infection, the powers at be, the new alliance of Earth, Mars, and the OPA work together to set up a blockade at the Solar System side of the network. But before they could get it set up a bunch of Belter refugees took the gamble and broke through the blockade. Months later and somehow the Belter have survived, which is causing Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) all levels of grief because the Royal Charter Energy (RCE) Company has legal claim to the planet and has sent their ship the Edward Israel to what they call New Terra, but what the Belters call Ilus. So who better to go and meditate, well that would be the crew of the Rocinante James Holden (Steven Strait), Alex Kamal (Cas Anvar), Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper), and Amos Burton (Wes Chatham). Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.
