New decade, new you. It’s that time again for us to break out the Crystal Ball and predict all of the twists and turns pop culture will make over this next year. Content clashes, the ever changing digital landscape, Streaming blurring the lines between TV and the movies, Avatar 2 will drop, Dr Dre’s ‘Detox’ will also come out (sure!) and well, more Baby Yoda.
I recognize that my power of a reputed seer is limited. However, I feel that this is more than just an idle exercise. If you ‘Big Up’ things that you want to see out there in the world, These things shall come back to you… Right? Grass grows through concrete. You haven’t failed until you quit, and attitude is everything. Let’s make 2020 the best yet.
Movies/Films/Cinema
Last Night in Soho
Each and every time an Edgar Wright films drops it is an event. His new opus, Last Night in Soho, remains something of a mystery. Part(s) horror film or psychological thriller with time travel elements sprinkled in? (set in the fashion world of a 1960’s London). I’m sure the score will be killer and I hope that this one rocks the box office.
Tenet
Christopher Nolan returns with a mind melting Sci Fi(?) action epic. For real, I’m just here for Nolan’s characters’ high grooming standards and expensive suits. It’s its own sub-genre. If you have seen the trailer, The shots make it look like time flows in reverse for them. (i.e. the car, the wake on the boat, the guard coming out of the closet thing at the end.). Tenet is a palindrome so if I have to guess I bet time will be circular, with the end being the beginning. No idea what’s going on but I am 100% down.
Dune
If you are curious what Dune has that inspires people to make yet another movie out of it? Well, people of a certain age love the books and they are also the movers and shakers in Hollywood. Unfortunately, Generation Y and Millennials don’t give a DAMN about those science fiction classics so I expect this movie to bomb. At this point, I’ll watch anything Denis Villeneuve directs, so the fact that he’s taking a shot at Dune is incredible.
The Many Saints Of Newark
This really could have been dubbed, ‘The Sopranos: The Prequel’. I can’t wait to see Tony as a slave child in the northern New Jersey desert, he is a really good go-cart racer, but it’s rigged for him, so he escapes, BUT without his mother. I mean, If the focus is Tony’s mother who messed him up so much it would be like the Soprano’s version of Bates Motel? Which is REALLY strange since it stars Vera Farmiga as his mother, Livia. Oh well, if you haven’t watched the highly acclaimed HBO series, you have over half of 2020 to catch up.
Dragons Lair: The Movie
I miss seeing Bluth’s style in animated films. Some have said that his movies make them feel uneasy and most definitely weren’t the safe environments Disney always created. While the video game, Dragon’s Lair traumatized my weekly allowance, Dragon’s Lair (The film) is set to drop this year. The Secret of Nimh is one of my all time favorite films. However, most Bluth-films after NIMH are Disney imitations, and not exactly great ones. I REALLY hope it captures our collective attention and our nightmares.
Television/Streaming/Small Screen
Probably the best new lineup of shows that I have ever seen. Go TV! There are so many new IP’s and properties, it’s crazy. It’s impossible to have time to see them all now, even with my Internet Netflix and sailing the high seas. Well, no plans for a Catamaran this year but I’m sure my couch can float.
Locke & Key (Netflix)
From the trailer I’m really surprised by how faithful it looks compared to the popular IDW graphic novel series. Seems like the story has been remixed a bit, but that’s to be expected. I would imagine they’re not trying to adapt the entire series in one season. Half the fun is finding out where the keys go.
The Stand (CBS All Access)
I remember the 1994 miniseries being super meh. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s prophet was a weird distraction and the performances were wildly uneven. The book has a quite weird combo of stuff that’s shockingly ahead of its time and awkwardly ‘70s. I’m interested in how the show runners handle it and I will definitely subscribe to CBS all access for this.
Shadow and Bone (Netflix)
The original trilogy is definitely riding the Hunger Games wave of big mood chosen one blah blah blah, but with some nice Avatar: The Last Airbender magic and way better second and third books than the Hunger Games had. But the real magic comes with the two Six Of Crows books, which basically takes the cool world Bardugo establishes and says “hey, what do criminals look like in this world?”
Like, imagine if instead of doing everything she’s done since writing Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling wrote a straight-up heist in the wizarding world starring delinquent teen magicians. But also with multiple POVs, and also gayer, and also with way better action and suspense. The Grishaverse goes from good to outstanding and I’m excited to see where this show goes.
Hunters (Amazon)
Oh, it’s ON Amazon. I thought they’d be hunting Nazis IN the Amazon. That this takes the place on Amazon’s servers where THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE had been … freaks me out. I hope the show does portray the Nazis as properly horrific. If they are mostly ineffective doofuses it kinda defeats the point of some cathartic scumbag killing. I’ve been drunkenly pushing a version of this starring Liam Neeson. Called Schindler’s List 2.
Y: The Last Man (FX)
This is a perfect time for a reread. If you are familiar with BKV’s work, his comic titles usually follow the same pattern: Starts strong, sags a bit in the middle and has an absolutely killer ending. The final panel was, and is, one of the finest ever 4-color, IMHO. I assume that’s why Saga is on hiatus, until he can think of an appropriately awesome way to wrap it up? But I digress, Katie—a female capuchin monkey best known for turns in The Loop, 30 Rock, and yes, Friends— snapped up the role of Ampersand. This is inspired casting you see because when Y actually premieres on FX the monkey will have a better career than Matt LeBlanc.
What shows and films are you most looking forward to in 2020?
-Dagobot
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