Foshe Q1 Media Check-In
Earlier this year Thomas released a blog of everything he watched during the Covid-19 lockdown. This idea got us thinking that we should do this every quarter. Below you will find my Q1 Media Check-In (Movies, TV, Video Games, and Books) and we will released Thomas’ earlier last week. What did you watch during Q1?
As you have probably heard me mention on the Podcast, I watch a lot more TV than I do movies. I look at TV as much easier to watch for some reason. I will get home from work, get dinner ready, watch an episode while I eat, and then go on with my night. I look at movies as a much bigger time commitment and more of a thing to watch during the weekends when I have more time. However, with that being said, I made a concerted effort early on in the year to watch more movies than I usually do, but as the time passed and I started getting back to the office I slipped into my usual TV ways. I will also only watch 2 TV shows at a time; usually something I want to watch and then something that Ellen and I are watching together. I was also finally able to get my hands on a PS5 so you will be hearing all about the games that I played during the last few months. I wanted to try to read a book a month but that also has fallen apart. I finished one and I am in the middle of another. Maybe by the end of the year my reading will pick up again.
Quick Hits
The PS5 is one of the greatest things I have ever bought. It is absolutely incredible and I only have a handful of games that I will hit on later. I have been trying since the initial drop and randomly got lucky through Best Buy a few months ago. I considered buying from a secondary market like StockX or somewhere and if I knew how good it was I honestly might have pulled the trigger.
Spider Man: Miles Morales is one of the most entertaining games I have played recently. I have really struggled to get into story games lately but I was obsessed with this game. The story was perfect and all the side missions were a blast. I really can’t remember the last game I got 100% completion on but this game was so easy to keep playing.
We need more monster movies. Why don’t we have one of these once a month? Godzilla vs. Kong (suck it Todd) and Kong: Skull Island were entertaining as hell and, if given the opportunity, I would watch a monster movie every month. I would honestly pay for some kind of premium streaming service that dropped a monster movie every month.
Ranking my TV intake was really difficult; everything I watched the last few months I really enjoyed besides Oz (more on that later). This was the second time I watched Atlanta and, my goodness, that show is an all timer. I cannot wait for the next seasons. Donald Glover, LaKeith Stanfield, Brian Tyree Henry, and Zazie Beetz are all so so good. It’s awesome to see all of them spread out and do their own thing too; I can’t wait to see what they do next.
I won’t mention it below but Queen’s Gambit, Brooklyn 99, and Ted Lasso were all amazing.
Movies
MVP: I can’t make a decision between Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield from Judas and the Black Messiah. I remember hearing about Chairman Fred Hampton and the Black Panthers in school, but had no idea how this story went. I won’t spoil it here but I can’t recommend this movie enough; it was an easy 10/10 for me. Both Kaluuya and Stanfield were amazing and, even though the Academy Awards are trash, if one of them doesn’t win an Oscar it’s bull shit.
Hottest Take: Hereditary and The Lighthouse are both trash. You can listen to the Going Off Topic Podcast episode to listen to my thoughts on Hereditary. The Lighthouse was somehow worse; literally nothing happens and it was an incredibly boring movie. I liked the idea, liked the actors (Pattinson and Dafoe), liked the setting, etc. but this was a let down in a major way.
Movie that Surprised in a Positive Way: There are a couple that could fit in this category (Palm Springs, The Old Guard, The Witch, and Bridesmaids) but I think I am going to go with Guava Island. A short Amazon Prime original that features Childish Gambino and Rihanna this movie was just a fun watch. It features a lot of Gambino’s music and it was cool to see these two incredibly talented people do their thing.
Movie that Surprised in a Negative Way: See hottest take above lol but I will also go with Framing Britney (Ellen just audibly gasped while reading this), this was trending online for a few weeks after it released on Hulu. I don’t want this to come across in the wrong way because some of the things Britney Spears has gone through have been terrible. The question I keep coming back to is this: with everything going on in the world, I just think there are more important things happening and this didn’t resonant with me.
Best Movie: Hands down Judas and the Black Messiah. The acting, the story, the directing, and the importance of this film all make it the best thing I watched. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend watching it.
Worst Movie: I can’t waste anymore space on these two but the worst things (not just movies) were Hereditary and The Lighthouse; with The Lighthouse narrowly taking the crown for worst thing I watched.
TV Shows
MVP: The cast of Atlanta; I mentioned them all above but those four are spectacular.
Hottest Take/Most Unpopular Opinion: Oz is not very good and I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. I really liked the acting and thought a lot of the people involved were really great. I was thinking maybe it was because it came out in the late 90’s, but it doesn’t even seem that outdated. It seems like the story really dragged and then got pretty far fetched. This show has an 8.7/10 on IMDB and a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Show that Surprised in a Positive Way: Dave really surprised me but the winner here is Freaks and Geeks. Starring Jason Segal, Seth Rogan, James Franco, Linda Cardellini, Busy Phillips, and written by Judd Apatow. This show was great. It’s a bummer there are only 18 episodes but I love how it looks at groups of high school kids. Each few episodes look at some pretty serious topics but the show is a lot of fun.
Show that Surprised in a Negative Way: An easy choice here is Oz because I really liked everything else I watched. I can’t remember the last show I stopped without finishing but I got about halfway through Oz and dropped out.
Best Show: Another easy choice is Atlanta here, I really can’t say enough about it. They cover a range of topics with all the characters and it is hands down the best show going right now.
Worst Show: See Oz above.
Movie Rankings
1. Judas and the Black Messiah
2. Con Air
3. Tenet
4. Face/Off
5. Bridesmaids
6. Godzilla vs. Kong
7. The Old Guard
8. The Witch
9. Palm Springs
10. Guava Island
11. Truman Show
12. Napoleon Dynamite
13. Gone in 60 Seconds
14. Kong: Skull Island
15. Wizard of Oz
16. Sorry to Bother You
17. Idiocracy
18. Framing Britney
19. Hereditary
20. The Lighthouse
TV Shows (all full series unless otherwise noted)
1. Atlanta
2. Queen’s Gambit
3. Brooklyn Nine Nine
4. Ted Lasso
5. Behind Her Eyes
6. Freaks and Geeks
7. Dave
8. WandaVision
9. Falcon and Winter Solider (in process)
10. Real Housewives of New Jersey (in process?)
11. Oz
Video Games
