It's been a while since I've done one of these posts, but one feels overdue. Here are some of the posts that I planned to write and tried to write over the past few months, but they never got off the ground for a variety of reasons.
The Emmys and The Golden Globes - I used to spend a lot of time on awards season, but the behind-the-scenes meta has become more fun to write about than the awards themselves. I actually did watch both ceremonies, but the races were dull and I didn't feel like I had enough to do full writeups about either. The Golden Globes are officially post HFPA, and now fighting the SAG Awards and Critics Choice Awards for attention. More people watched the ceremony than the Emmys, but unfortunately this outing was saddled with Jo Koy's now infamously bad turn as host. Apparently he got the gig at the last minute, but it's hard to feel bad for someone who threw his writers under the bus.
The Emmys offered no surprises, and were so late because of the SAG and WGA strikes that several of the shows they were celebrating had aired a full eighteen months before the ceremony finally took place. That's right, "The Bear" won all those trophies for its first season in the summer of 2022, not its second. Still, the Emmys actually put together a very good ceremony to celebrate its 75th anniversary, staging a lot of classic TV cast reunions throughout the night. It's always nice to see how Meathead and Gloria are doing. Unfortunately, it was up against football, FOX didn't advertise much, and the ratings were a disappointment. However, I hope that Anthony Anderson and his mother are invited back to host in future years.
State of the Superhero - I usually write these yearly posts as a little preview for upcoming superhero media, but the bubble has burst and there's just not enough to fill a whole post about this. The MCU and Warners are only offering one movie apiece, while Sony somehow has three - none of which look any good. Hype generating events were mostly canceled last summer and fall, and slates are looking mighty empty. I could have written about the steep turn in the fortunes of the MCU, but I ended up folding most of that into a different post about Disney's wider troubles at the box office. Honestly, it's nice getting a break from superheroes for a while. The MCU badly needs some course correction after their awful 2023, and the DCEU coming to a close is definitely for the best. I've been toying with writing some sort of "Rank 'Em" or farewell post for the DCEU, but I have no desire to revisit the earlier films.
Honestly, the best thing about the superhero surge is that a lot of smaller, more niche properties got their turn in the sun - things like "Legion," "Watchmen," "The Sandman," and "Invincible." And now that superheroes are on the wane, unfortunately they'll be the first to go. I expect that I'll still have opportunities to write more superhero related posts as the drama at Warners and Disney continues to unfold. But since I don't feel the need to make much effort keeping track of superhero media right now, the feature will go on hiatus until the situation changes.
"Joy Ride" and "No Hard Feelings" - Finally, I made a point of watching both of the raunchy comedies from the summer of 2023 that I had been avoiding for months. However, I couldn't bring myself to write reviews for them, even short form ones. I still dislike raunchy comedies and I knew I couldn't give either of these movies the fair shake that they deserved. "No Hard Feelings" was pretty enjoyable, and features Jennifer Lawrence in the kind of funny, winning role that I wish she got to play more often. She's taken a break from Hollywood, understandably, and I hope this gets her into a better groove.
Meanwhile, I liked all four of the girls in "Joy Ride," and desperately wanted them to be in a different movie than the one they were appearing in. My Asian solidarity has its limits, and this is it.
---
No comments:
Post a Comment