It's the most wonderful time of the year... Time for the annual Best Of the Year posts! I think about this all year. Seriously. Also, I just looked back over all the archives, and I've been writing these for Doux Reviews since 2012. TWO THOUSAND AND TWELVE people! Back before the world fell apart, but also back when I was working five different jobs to make ends meet, so hey, swings and roundabouts. Anyway, the good TV keeps coming, so on with this year's cream of the crop!
New Shows
I can no longer keep up with all the amazing new shows out there, but I have managed to watch some interesting shows on streaming services, including Maniac, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and The Haunting of Hill House. Sabrina was interesting and fun enough, but so weird for me as a huge fan of the 1990s sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch. I miss the love and warmth and snarky talking Salem I loved! Maniac was also interesting but just... odd. So my favourite new show by far is The Haunting of Hill House. Creepy (it scared me anyway!), sad, spooky, intriguing, just the right level of dark. Loved it.
Old Favourites
I've loved this season of Doctor Who. Some of the plots have been a little hit and miss but I've always enjoyed it when the TARDIS has a bigger ensemble travelling in it and I've really enjoyed watching the gang this year. The series seems to have found the right balance between soap opera-style stuff about the companions' live and families (Ryan and Graham's grief has been especially well handled) and episodic adventures, and I really loved 'Rosa' - it was basically an episode of Quantum Leap, and I love Quantum Leap!
I've also been really enjoying the current season of Outlander. I know very little about pre-twentieth century American history but it's something I'm really interested in after a visit to Greenfield Village in Michigan last year, so I'm loving the move to the States. I still love Supernatural, even if I fall a few episodes behind sometimes due to sheer lack of time to watch it, and I'm so relieved Brooklyn Nine Nine was renewed after all! I've no idea where The Good Place is going with its current storyline, but I'm still enjoying so I'm glad that's been renewed too, and I'll miss The Big Bang Theory when it finishes next year.
I've Drifted Away From...
Is it worth trying to catch up on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt or Orange is the New Black, or should I focus on new shows and just let them go?
Bowing Out
I'm really gonna miss New Girl. It's finale was a bit quiet but got the job done, and the penultimate episode was just lovely.
Binge-watch of the year
It's a tie here between The Haunting of Hill House (best new binge-watch) and How I Met Your Mother (best classic binge-watch), which I've seen in its entirety before but it's one of those shows that really rewards a binge-watch, thanks to the number of call-backs and references in it. My major New To Me discovery was The Handmaid's Tale, but that's far too depressing to binge-watch - I had to spread it out over several weeks!
Original film of the year
This is the category for films not based on a true story (a historical setting is OK, but no biopics or documentaries) or pre-existing film, book, comic, toy, Disneyland park ride or haiku, and which are not sequels, prequels or franchise continuations.
Nominees:
A Quiet Place
The Happytime Murders
No disrespect to The Happytime Murders, but I think it's safe to say A Quiet Place wins that one this year. In defence of Hollywood, I have seen a lot fewer films at the cinema this year than usual, and if I wasn't being so fussy about biopics and documentaries I could have included The Greatest Showman, I, Tonya, Bohemian Rhapsody, and the brilliant They Shall Not Grow Old. But still. Get your act together, Hollywood - make some original films!
Best Gigantic Crossover
Nominees:
Avengers: Infinity War
Ready Player One
Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet
I love the MCU films and I loved Avengers: Infinity War - it was pretty much everything I wanted it to be, and hilarious to boot. I also really enjoyed Ready Player One, and part of the reason I've seen so few films at the cinema is that I watched both twice! But in all honesty, my favourite crossover moment was probably the one that occurred in a more generally mediocre (but fine) film - all the scenes involving the Disney princesses in Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet. Complete with their original voice actors, coming back to do one or two lines and explain the importance of singing your feelings in front of water. Important water.
Things To Watch
I'm including this category for one reason only. Back in my very first review of the year in 2012, I said I was halfway through Battlestar Galactica. In 2013, I said I still hadn't finished it. I repeated this statement in 2014 and (when I brought back the category) in 2017. So in 2018, I promised to give a paper at the Classical Association conference on Battlestar Galactica.
I finished it two days before the conference.
Woo-hoo!
Anyway, I have now watched season one of American Horror Story (added to the list in 2017) and am about halfway through season one of Once Upon A Time (added way back in 2013). So those are top of my list! I'm also planning to start The Magicians at the beginning because it's a really fun show. The first two minutes of the show I ever saw were these two minutes (below) and I think all readers of Doux Reviews will instantly understand why I knew straight away this was a show I wanted to watch! So far I've only seen a weird scattering of season three episodes, so I'm holding off on season four until I can catch up.
Plus there's the returns of Star Trek: Discovery, The Orville, and the (sniff!) final season of Game of Thrones... man I hope that's good!
Top 10s
And finally, the traditional Top 10s. I've seen far fewer movies this year, but that made it easier to write the list!
Movies
10. Ant-Man and the Wasp
9. Deadpool 2
8. Bohemian Rhapsody
7. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald
6. Ready Player One
5. Black Panther
4. May Poppins Returns
3. Avengers: Infinity War
2. They Shall Not Grow Old
1. A Quiet Place
TV Episodes
10. The Big Bang Theory: The Consummation Deviation
9. Brooklyn Nine Nine: The Box
8. The Good Place: Somewhere Else
7. Star Trek Discovery: Vaulting Ambition
6. The Handmaid's Tale: Women's Work
5. Outlander: Common Ground
4. Inside No 9: To Have and To Hold
3. Supernatural: Scooby-natural
2. The Haunting of Hill House: Two Storms
1. Doctor Who: Rosa
Happy Holidays everyone!
Juliette Harrisson is a Trekkie, ghost story enthusiast and Classicist with three current ongoing book projects. The fourth actually got published in 2018, the Year of Actually Getting Things Done! Here's to 2019 being a continuation of that theme...
Juliette, you should watch Netflix's Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society! It's just a movie, no season long commitment. Seems like your kind of thing. I, for one, loved it. "The Box" is one of the best episodes of television I think I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteI've seen it - not at the cinema, but I bought it for my Mum for her birthday and saw it on DVD - I forgot it had come out this year! It was good, really lovely :)
ReplyDelete2012. That is awesome.
ReplyDeleteI liked the Guernsey movie, too. In fact, I think someone here recommended it. Possibly even Sunbunny.
Ooh, I just realized what the photo of the top is. Wow.
ReplyDeleteI stopped watching Orange is the New Black with season four. It wasn't working for me any more. And I never got into Kimmy. Don't hate me, everyone.
Billie - Don't think it was me but I'll take credit if no one else steps up :)
ReplyDeleteThe GLAPPPS book is great, too. A little different. I'm pretty sure it's epistolary if I'm recalling correctly.
2012? Wow, that's so amazing.
ReplyDeleteI'm always so happy to hear all the thoughts on Outlander!! I'm enjoying the new season too but liking the move to the states a little less than you.
I hear you regarding Battlestar Galactica. I'm eternally halfway through it as well.
ReplyDeleteA Quiet Place was indeed terrific. And I watched Mary Poppins Returns this week, what a delightful sequel. Quite the year for Emily Blunt.