Wednesday, January 24, 2007

2006 in review

I know that it is now almost an entire month into 2007 and I also know that most people when they do a year in review they do it in December but I am doing mine now because I recently read a 2006 in review article in Entertainment Weekly and I disagreed with a lot of what they had to say. So here it is my 2006 in review.

Movie of the year: Rocky Balboa, the sequel that was 21 years in the making (you ask, Sean, Rocky V came out in 1990? That isn't 21 years.) This is true; the best thing about Rocky Balboa was that they acted like Rocky V didn't even happen. It stayed true to the first four movies which were the best ones. An inspirational story about an underdog who fights his way to the top with a kick ass 80's soundtrack (including "Hearts on fire" by John Cafferty, which is played during the best training scene in any sports movie.) Rocky Balboa gave everyone exactly what they were looking for and that was a happy ending. Rocky V ended on a down note and that isn't what Rocky is about, it is about hope and triumph over even the toughest obstacles. Now if you haven't seen it I bet you are asking yourself right now, does he win? See the movie and you'll find out!

Honorable mention:Little Miss Sunshine! I don't know what to say it just made me really happy!

Most disappointing movie of the year: X-Men 3, talk about a steaming pile of summer blockbuster crap. There were a lot of sequels that came out this summer, M:I:3 probably being the worst but I had high expectations for the third and apparent final installment of X-Men. My biggest problem was they tried to fit 2 and a half hours of plot into 90 minutes of movie. It was rushed and because of that it was poorly written. I am a huge X-Men fan and this left me under whelmed and leaving the theater saying "what the fuck?" Here is the kicker, the first two films in the franchise were fantastic and then Bryan Singer left to do Superman Returns which was one of the best movies of the year (in my opinion) Overall I was disappointed, they debuted a few great characters with Beast and Angel but did nothing with them. Hopefully the Wolverine movie will be much, much better.

Best album of the year: This one goes to The Killers new album "Sam's Town". This follow up to "Hot Fuss" did not disappoint, it out did "Hot Fuss"! There weren't as many catchy songs on this one; there wasn't a "Mr. Brightside" but the album as a whole works so well. Every song compliments the others so well; it is pleasing to listen too. Even the Intro and Outro are good! Chris Daughtry debut album was a very close second. He delivered his "fuck you" to American Idol with a good ol' fashioned Rock n' Roll album (take that Taylor Hicks) The album is full of hard hitting rock and even a ballad or two.

Most disappointing album of the year: Guster's fifth studio album "Ganging up on the sun" made me sad because it just wasn't very good. Guster is one of my favorite bands but this album didn't do it for me. It was the lack of Adam Gardner on the album; he just adds a little something extra that makes Guster great. I hate saying it but it wasn't there best.
Best Television show: This is the hardest category to narrow down because there has been some good TV this year but my vote has to go to the fifth day of 24. This season had the most ups, downs, twists, and turns of any show on TV. Jack Bauer had to fight his toughest villain, the president of the United States of America! That's right Jack brought down his own government! This season they killed a bunch of people and had a cliffhanger ending that left everyone counting down the days until January 2007. It had more "Oh my God!" and "What the fuck just happened?" moments than any of the previous seasons. What words can you use to describe Jack Bauer? Samuel L. Jackson said it best in Pulp Fiction "Bad mother fucker", the man almost brought down a plane with his belt! In Jack we trust (see my blog titled WWJD? for more on Jack Bauer)

Most Disappointing show on TV: "Lost", Forever Lost", a Million times "Lost"! Watching the second season of "Lost" left me with a feeling similar to when you clean out your ears and you shove the Q-tip a little too deep. "Lost" is, I think, the most poorly written show on TV. It leaves so much unanswered and gives me a headache to watch but for some reason I CAN'T STOP WATCHING. It's like I am taking heroine but I want to kick the habit but I keep relapsing. The whole flashback thing was cool when it seemed relevant to the story now all I think it is filler. I am sure everything has a hidden meaning but I am getting to the point where I don't care I just want to know what the hell is going on.

That was 2006 in review. I hope you enjoyed yourself and I will see you with my 2007 in review most likely in 2008