Sean’s Top 10 Video Games of 2019

Well, unlike some other media, it would be hard to make a case that 2019 was the year of the decade for video games. With aging hardware and new consoles looming on the horizon, this last year was all about keeping on keeping on. Games as a service continues to be a thing, with the added wrinkle that game subscription services really hit their stride with the massive success of Xbox Game Pass. I guess it sort of became a year about catching up with stuff for best of the decade and wrapping up this console generation. It didn’t help that some of the year’s most exciting titles either disappointed (Anthem) or slipped into 2020 (DOOM Eternal). Oh well, plenty to look forward in the months to come!

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Sean’s Top 10 Movies of 2019

Both John and Colin talked about how unusually good this year was at the cinema, so I gotta admit: there are a lot of good movies I haven’t seen yet due to an unusually hectic December and January. Given that it’s award season, it stings that I haven’t seen prestige pictures like 1917 and Little Women, indie darlings like The Souvenir and The Last Black Man in San Francisco, foreign films like Pain and Glory and Ash is Purest White, or literally any 2019 documentaries.

But! I did see a lot of shitty movies. I went to the movies with my dad most Tuesdays last year, and that meant I saw some real clunkers, like Men in Black: International, Dark Phoenix, and Terminator: Dark Fate. It also meant I got to spend more time with my family and see a lot of my favorite movies of the year more than once, so I wouldn’t change a thing. In fact, it even helped me pick up on a pattern in cinema this year: If 2017 was the year of the mom, 2019 was the year of the dad.

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Colin’s Top Ten Movies of 2019

I think there’s little disputing that 2019 was a great year for movies, and I’m not sure I have much to add to that sentiment. It was a great year for movies if you wanted to see something small and artsy, it was a great year if you want to something mid-budget and weird (thanks A24), and it was a great year if you wanted to see something grand and spectacular at your local multiplex (sans a disappointing Star Wars conclusion). I felt like I stayed fairly up-to-date with all the movies worth seeing this year, and yet there’s still a few I wished I’d been able to cram in. But hey, that’s not a bad problem to have. Continue reading →

John’s Top Ten Movies of 2019

2019 was a great year for mainstream cinema. Which means it’s a boring year for lists. Maybe it’s me but I feel like in lesser years cinephiles go more out of their way to unearth those under-appreciated documentaries and hidden art house gems. I’m not talking about Uncut Gems either.

The second more likely scenario is that I was lazy. I found a group of films I liked and I called it a day. The true answer is likely somewhere in-between. That being said I had a lot of fun at the movies in 2019 and will try to make this list my own.

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The Eighth Annual Mildly Pleased Awards

Another year in the books, another year of mildly pleasing pop culture. Though we may be living in a world of extremes, here we take a look each year at the most middling things that the year had to offer. 2019 had no shortage of things that struck our pleasure centers right in the middle, as this awards podcast sees us discussing the likes of revamped Sonic the Hedgehog, Keanu Reeves, and the 30-50 Feral Hogs that serve as a constant threat. Continue reading →

Colin’s Top Ten TV Shows of 2019

I’ve made my peace with the fact that Top Ten TV Shows is the list I spend the least amount of time pouring over. Possibly because I don’t feel like I’ve watched 10 shows I really love until I’ve binge-watched one final show right before constructing my list. Still, I felt a bit more on top of TV this year than usual, and yet because there are just so many darn shows out there, before I get to the list, I present you once again with… Continue reading →

John’s Top Ten TV Shows of 2019

While writing my list I noticed something. Out of the ten shows I picked for my favorites of 2019, only one is over an hour long. I remember a time when all the GOOD shows were an hour long. Like The Sopranos. It just goes to show how the evolution of the TV and all the ways to consume TV have broken down a lot of conventions. Shows can be as long as they need to be when they don’t need to worry about commercial time.

Which also explains why a majority of my selections are streaming-based. I don’t know if any of this is good or bad for the medium or if we need to cool it on the number of shows available, but as of now, I feel good about it. After all, you don’t have to watch all of it.

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