2012 Recap – Best and worst

Already being a month and a half into 2013, I think it’s time to review the best and worst of 2012. There were some really good bests, but even worse bads. Remember, these titles are only based on reviews on the website, so it doesn’t necessarily have to have been produced in 2012.

Best:

The bests are always the boring, so they go first

Book: The Hobbit. Can you really disagree? It’s great, epic and exciting. Weighing in with a hefty 92% ambious rating.

Movie: The Gray. It was emotional and had that special something that has gotten particularly rare these days. 90% ambitious rating.

Series: Firefly. If you haven’t watched it, just get to it. The final episode in the short series will leave you scarred. Not because it was bad, but because you know you’ll never see more of this awesome series again. Ambitiously 85%

Game: Not many games were reviewed but Slender takes the cake for being original, fun and scary enough to make a grown man scream like a little girl. 85%

Worst:

And now for the best, which is the worst.

Book: Falling in at 55% we have warm bodies. The twilight of zombie movies. Enough said.

Movie: Underworld awakening. Beating The Dark Knight Rises by only 2% with a 63% ambitious rating.

Series: The Tick. Sadly, our friendly neighbourhood superhero/village idiot, comes in last. Not a bad series, not at all, but the others were just so much better. 70%

Game: The lowest rating on this site ever. 40%. The game didn’t really deserve 40% but I slipped, alright? Sorry. NFS Most Wanted, the revamp of one of the best NFS games to date turns out to be the worst ever. NFS should be ashamed and then hung.

Firefly / Serenity

I’ve taken this chance to do a series review and combined it with the movie that followed it.
Anyone who enjoys sci-fi must have seen, or at least heard, of the Firefly series. If you haven’t, you should find it and watch it.
In a nutshell: Firefly, the brainchild of Joss Whedon finally brought us a new, fresh sci-fi series set in outer space. To say that I was amped is an understatement. A serious one. So, of course, I was expecting a lot, and considering all the hype around it I was ready to be a bit underwhelmed.
Serenity is the ship (often referred to as the “boat”) that the series plays off aboard. Firefly is type of ship that Serenity is. That concludes our lesson.
The series started off a bit vague but the further I got into it the more I loved it. Captain Malcolm (played by none other than Nathan Fillion) is a great anti-hero, saying things like: “It’s gettin’ awful crowded in my sky.” Although the lady that rents their shuttle isn’t one of the greatest characters in a series ever, I really enjoyed every other person aboard Serenity. From the fun and comedic pilot, the bad-boy Jayne, the innocent girlie mechanic to the misunderstood River, a girl that seems to have a lot bottled up inside.

What made the series good? Well, I’m a bit of a sci-fi fan (I may have mentioned this a few times before in other reviews), it took a space-setting and gave it a bit of a cowboy spine, which is rather nice. So if any of that sounds interesting you’ve found another reason to check it out. Was the series undervalued? Yes, seriously. Cancelled after only fourteen episodes. What a pity. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I wanted to cry after watching the last episode, but my eyes were feeling a bit heavy. It’s not great and incredible and amazing like Star Wars, but it’s not supposed to be compared to Star Wars. Firefly is what it is, a decend series that made you feel like a kid again.

What’s Serenity? Besides the name of the ship, there was also a movie made after the series was kicked by one of our favourite companies. The movie picked up where the series left off and it had everything that the series had, and more. It was exciting, original and emotional. Without giving too much away to those who haven’t watched it, it’s difficult to really say much more about the film. It did, unfortunately not reach box office success and as a result the series was never rebooted.

The firefly series has a huge following and fanbase on the internet and I can see why. (Some of these pics above are in fact fan art and not official advertising). It brought something back onto television that many thought they’d never see again. Sadly, however, we didn’t get to see it for very long.

Pros:It’s something new with a feel of something older.

Cons:
I’d be nit-picking to say anything bad about such a good series over just 14 episodes.

Ambitious rating:
85%

Verdict:
The kid in me came alive watching this one. Cowboys in space. Sci-fi fans deserve a series as good as this one.

Captain Malcolm: “Jayne, your mouth is talking. You might wanna look to that.”

Series of the week – The Tick

I know it’s not exactly a new series, but that’s the point. This is the first review of a number (or series, if you will) of reviews about tv shows that should’ve made it past the first season. The Tick is one of them. It’s not mind-blowing, it’s not inspiring, but it is great fun. Truth be told, it’s not the most intelligent humour, but every once in a while that’s exactly what we need. Community is still going for that very reason.

What made The Tick good? Well, besides the big blue man himself with his deep voice, tall stature and somewhat vacant mind, there are many hilarious moments. The supporting characters also make for some good entertainment. Arthur can be a bit boring at times, but luckily we have characters like Batmanuel to make up for it. Yes, you read that right. There’s something about it that makes it feel like an animated series eventhough it’s not and somehow you can’t help but like The Tick, regardless of his somewhat odd behaviour.

When I recently re-watched the series I felt like a kid again. The last time a tv show had this effect on me was when I watched Dinosaurs, and then I actually was still a kid, so that kind of makes sense. I’m not saying that The Tick is the be-all and end-all of comedy, but it sure is fun to watch.

If you haven’t yet watched it, you’ve missed out. Even the animated series was really good, though I’d recommend going for the real deal. Mostly just because Patrick Warburton does a great job as the blue superhero. The animated series, which ran from 1994 actually predates the tv show by seven years, though the humour wasn’t diluted at all.

You’ll have to limit your daily intake of The Tick if you do get it, since it only ran for nine episodes before being kicked. Sadly, this is the fate of many other series that should’ve ran longer rather while others (too many to mention) get a number of undeserved seasons.

Pros:
It’s quirky, funny and a bit ridiculous.

Cons:
Not everyone like this kind of funny or this kind of ridiculous.

Ambitious rating:
70%

 Verdict:
Who doesn’t love an ignorant good-guy that only means good?

“And that’s just it, Doc, my mind has always been my Achilles’ heel!” – The Tick