Thoughts on Squid Game

 Fantastic show, placed it as my 7th favorite and it'd be higher if there were more seasons to judge it on. Spoilers ahead

1. House, M.D.

2. The Wire

3. Spongebob Squarepants

4. Lost

5. Black Mirror

6. The Mandalorian

7. Squid Game

8. The Office 

9. Parks and Recreation

10. Stranger Things

I expected this to be somewhat of Saw gimmick- brutal hunger games style death games that were entertaining and worth watching for the pure crazy factor but not much in the way of plot or characters. Instead, we got that but with meaning behind every game and death with fantastic characters, story and pacing throughout. The mystery and intrigue was excellent. I do think the series took a dip towards the end- the last two episodes were by far the weaker and the plot twist the old man just wasn't very good. But everything else delivered so well that it was great overall. I've now seen 4 korean TV shows/movies and all have been disturbing dark and most of them very violent: Oldboy, Parasite, I Saw the Devil. 

Character Rankings:

1. Kang Sae-Byeok (death was so sad and upsetting)

2. Seong Gi-Hun (I liked how he was very flawed with his gambling, but deep down was caring and knew he made horrible mistakes)

3. Front Man (by far the most mysterious and intriguing character, excited to see his development in further seasons)

4. Hwang Jun-Ho (Awesome storyline)

5. Cho Sang-Woo (terrible person, but well developed and interesting)

6. Ali Abdul

7. Jang Deok-Su (I would have liked to see more of him)

8. Oh Il-Nam (great until the terrible twist ruined him)

9. Han Mi-nyeo (consistently extremely annoying, couldn't care less whether she got her "revenge")

Hard to rank the episodes, 1-7 were just fantastic. 6 was soul-crushingly dark and 7 was probably the most thrilling game but the intrigue in 1-5 was excellent and I also really enjoyed the outside world of 1 and 2.

Thoughts on F9

Just watched the latest fast and furious movie, F9. I wasn't particularly excited for this given my two favorite actors/characters Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham wouldn't be in it. Sure, I didn't have those guys for the first two movies, but I always really liked Brian O'Connor, who of course departed after Paul Walker's tragic death. This would be the first film in the franchise where I didn't really like the main characters. Vin Diesel simply has never been good or likeable in any movie outside of Guardians of the Galaxy due to his lack of acting ability or charisma. Went to see in theaters anyway since I did watch the whole franchise (interestingly Hobbs and Shaw and Furious 7 are the only ones I've seen a second time). 

In the end, F9 was a great movie. It hasn't had great reviews and a lot of people seem to think it's one of the weaker films in the franchise, so this may be an unpopular opinion. I really liked this one though, which took me by surprise as none of the actors here I'm a big fan of. The two major fantastic positives of the film are awesome, fast moving, explosive and highly enjoyable action sequences and great supporting characters. Every action sequence is really great and combines humor, spectacle and stunts to create thrilling set pieces. On the characters side, this is an ensemble film and most everyone delivers. The standout is the comedic duo of Roman and Tej, and I thought Ramsey was a good edition to the group as I haven't really noticed her before. Han was great, Helen Mirren was fine, Otto was fine, and the trio of Tokyo Drift guys were a funny callback. While the story was a bit rough and had some low moments, I found the flashbacks to be the best acted portion of the story and the younger versions of Dom and Jacob made for a compelling storyline. 

Not everything in the film was great as there were several flaws. The two biggest issues are the story is kind of whatever, there isn't really a story. The villains aren't really there as there's several of them and isn't much of a buildup or development of what they're doing and why. The biggest issue for me is that the three main characters of Dom, Letty and Jacob are incredibly bland, have no emotion and aren't even remotely likeable. Why Vin Diesel and Michelle Rodriguez, two people who have no acting ability were chosen to head to a major action franchise is beyond me. John Cena has been funny before, but the decision to write him as a mirror of Dominic Torretto was a huge mistake because it just feels like there's a second vin diesel in the film. Fortunately these issues never really derail the movie since the supporting cast as well as the flashback cast are great and there's few scenes just with the three main characters. Also when it comes to fast and furious, 90% of the importance is the action which shines here so it's easy to forgive the other shortcomings. I'll note Cypher and Mia are both mediocre/forgettable, neither are good or bad. 

I'd also like to note the scene where Dom tries to sacrifice himself for no reason, then has a weird seeing death moment in the water, then is saved by Letty is just awful and probably one of the worst moments of the franchise for me, which has plenty of bad moments. 

My franchise ranking:

1. Furious 7

2. F9

3. The Fate of the Furious

4. Fast and Furious 6

5. Fast Five

6. Hobbs and Shaw

7. The Fast and the Furious

8. 2 Fast 2 Furious

9. Fast and Furious

10. The Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift

(top 7 are at least good)

I'll have to see them all a second time before making a definitive ranking.

Thoughts on Army of the Dead (spoilers)

 Just watched Army of the Dead, the new zombie film from Zach Snyder and Netflix. Overall, it was a good albeit frustrating and flawed film. I thoroughly enjoyed the first 2/3 of the film and was really disappointed at the amount of mistakes made in the final third which definitely brought it down for me.

Spoilers to follow 

Pros:

-Great opening and exciting watchable film up until the final third

-Enjoyed the smart zombies and zombie hierarchy idea, changes it up from all the villains just being fodder

-Dave Batista is great as awful and by far the best actor in the film

-Generally very action

-Fantastic tension in some scenes, genuinely thought people were going to die as soon as the vault was opened

-Vanderohe is a pretty good character

Cons:

-the third act is mostly garbage

-The majority of the characters die meaningless death within a very short time frame, and the movie quickly goes from a fun group comedy thriller to a depressing and frustrating father-son movie

-generally could have used some better actors/more well known names. Most of the characters are well written and somewhat interesting, they just don't have fantastic acting to push it to the next level. 

-It's almost unrealistic and annoying that pretty much anything that can go wrong, does. While an R-rated hard action zombie film will inevitably have some deaths, it's stupid how very nearly everyone dies. 

-The stupid geeta subplot. Geeta was the one positive component of the film's outcome as she escaped. When she dies, the entire heist was just a massive failure as everyone on it died, and nothing positive would come from having done the heist

-Maria confessing her love for Batista was kind of stupid considering they both die without really resolving it

-Marianne is a little annoying, Kate is extremely annoying

-They literally wait at the helicopter for just enough time for the king zombie to get on board when they could have easily escaped

-The end is terrible as everyone, including Batista and excluding the most annoying characters, dies. There is no satisfaction or redemption and Tanaka just kind of gets away with it and there's no resolution there. Vanderohe's escape seems momentarily awesome as he's the best character, until it's reveal he's bitten and is about to wreak zombie havoc on Mexico City. Not sure why everyone turned into a zombie immediately but he seemed to wait a week

Overall a 7/10, absolutely could have been a 9/10 without a horrible ending and some better actors

Ranking Every Song From Billy Joel's "The Stranger"

 I'm not really a huge music fan, especially compared to most people who seemingly have hundreds of favorite artists and thousands of favorite songs. I really only have a handful of musicians I like, and even then I usually only really like 5-8 songs from that artist. My favorite artist, Billy Joel, is an exception for me as I like around 20 of his songs. While Joel has around 12 albums, my favorite by far is The Stranger, with about 6 songs I like. There are 9 songs on the album and here they are ranked: 

9. Get It Right the First Time

Fine enough song with a decent pace, but nothing special or memorable.

8. Everyone Has a Dream

Nice slow tune to this one, but nothing memorable or catchy like the ones above it. Not a fan of the choir-like signing, but the song certainly isn't bad overall.  

7. Scenes From an Italian Restaurant

Some nice slow sections, but I mostly don't get the hype as one of Joel's best song. I think certain sections are pretty good, but don't quite reach the highs of his other hits for me and overall way too long.

6. Just the Way You Are

Pretty good, a catchy and fun hit but not even close to same level of greatness as his others.

5. The Stranger

Interesting and somewhat bizarre song with a minute of intro music. Really cool themes and directions with this one, but lacks that catchy beat of the ones ahead.

4. Movin' Out

Just a classic fun song, super catchy.

3. She's Always a Woman

Slower romantic song with a great tune and lyrics.

2. Vienna

Fantastic slower theme.

1. Only the Good Die Young

Extremely catchy and awesome tune on this one. My favorite Joel song.

Thoughts on The Night Of

 Just finished HBO's the night of, here are some thoughts.

Overall it's a good, not great show. Probably around an 8/10. Something certainly worth watching with few bad moments but not a must watch either. The pilot is probably in top 5 episodes of TV, so much tension and thrills but the rest of the series is much slower and mostly a lot less satisfying.

I found the prison plot to be uninteresting for the most part. It felt like a different show where Nas was some tough prison guy who no longer cared about the trial and really didn't even maintain his innocence. Freddy was fine but also didn't make much of an impact. Take him out and the show barely changes for me. 

I also find the whole tough guy "drug runner" Naz really hard to believe. Part of the reason the early portions of the show are so captivating is that we're watching an innocent guy make all these horrible mistakes that link him with the crime. It's exciting and hard to watch since we know he is a good guy who is the wrong place and has long odds against beating the charge. Yet, almost every episode after the first few, Naz does not appear to be a good guy. He has no problem getting people beat to death or even killed in prison, and even enjoy beating up people themselves. I could understand the peer pressure of doing drugs, but he gets addicted and continues them at the end. And a violent past is shown where he pushed kids down the stairs with no remorse. The vast majority of this is not very believable given the character we're originally shown and ultimately it makes Naz not especially likeable. At the end when he gets out, it's almost a lot less of a victory as we know he is not a great person. The way his character arc goes was really disappointing to me. I understand he had to make some of the decisions he made in prison (befriending freddy, allowing the gay guy to be killed, smuggling drugs), but he turns from a hardworking college student into a drug addict, a drug dealer, someone who despises his mother, and someone with seriously messed up violent tendencies who absolutely could kill someone down the road. 

However, I thought his support characters were all excellent. John Stone is a great character, a genuinely good guy who simply usually doesn't represent innocent clients. He puts everything into Naz's cases to set him free, even when Naz shows extremely questionable morals. I also thought Chandra was a good person and her dedication to believing in Naz is really impressive. Naz's parents are great character's as well, especially his Dad who clearly has extremely strong family values and supports his son no matter what.

I had mixed feelings on some of the other characters. Andrea was obviously a very flawed individual, and it is also hard for me to believe Naz would get involved with her. Even if he did, it seems crazy he would do all the drugs he did. I really didn't like Det. Box, he knew he thought Naz was innocent, yet charged him anyway and only came around at the end because he called out for being a terrible cop. One good deed, even if it was what set him free at the end, does not redeem a lifetime of bad behavior. The prosecutor was also a bit of an a-hole as she was going to convict Naz even when she knew he was innocent. I also depised alison crowe, who was an awful person.

Thoughts on The Wire

Just watched the wire, a show that has been regarded as the best of all time and one I have wanted to see for a while. This is just an informal gathering of my thoughts on it and some rankings.

Coming into the wire, I expected nothing else than a masterpiece that stood head and shoulders above any other TV show. Coming out, I'd certainly give it a 10/10, but it stands as my 2nd favorite show behind House, M.D. For that, it was slightly disappointing. The character development and story is phenomenal and better than anything I've seen as well as the consistent top-notch quality from episode to episode. Other than some mediocre season openers (semi-boring), pretty much every episode is entertaining and great. What it suffers in, for me, is the lack of tension and thrilling moments, which have carried other TV shows to my favorites list. The wire is a slow drama through and through. Unlike many of my other favorite shows, which have cliffhanger, action scenes and incredible moments of tension of suspense, there's very little of that in the wire. The overall story it tells is fantastic and almost every moments connects in every way. 

Season Ratings

Season 1- 10/10. My third favorite season of TV behind Breaking Bad S5 and Fargo S1. The only season for me that didn't feel incredibly slow and exciting story developments happened all the time. Lots of tension later in, and extremely satisfying to watch as the case against barksdale built and built on itself from simply learning the key players at the beginning to making arrests at the end. Satisfying, phenomenal from a few episodes in to the end (pilot was my least episodes of the series, however).

Season 2- 8/10. Really jarring shift from the great case in season 1 to completely new characters and setting, this one was really hard to get into. Some great characters like Frank and Spiros help elevate what is probably the least interesting story of any of the seasons. Definitely a slow burn, took half the season to really get started on the case, but the last couple episodes were fantastic. Still, it doesn't fit into the series that well and this felt like the season where the main story of the series was just a bunch of side plots.

Season 3- 8/10. A welcome shift back to the main story, with so many great elements with Avon, Marlo, and Stringer all competing for the king of the drug empire. However, I found this season to be the absolute slowest pace of them all. Story and characters carry his one, drama/tension does not.

Season 4- 9/10. Definitely an unpopular opinion here as many regard this as the best season of TV period. Really great story with the school flaws and the set of kids going there, as the well as the rise of Marlo's empire in some really horrible ways. Just didn't hit the same levels of tension and satisfaction as S1.

Season 5- 9/10. Another unpopular opinion, but some great characters and storylines added with the media. The actual police side of the story was only okay, but the stories between Marlo's organization, the return of the greeks, and omar was among the best moments of the series. 

Overall ranking: 1, 4, 5, 3, 2. Overall still a 10/10, I realize that doesn't add up but this is very much a series that should be taken as a whole and not thought of in pieces.

Character Ranking

I will rank every character who I felt had significant character development. If I can't put a name to the face or vice versa they're not here. If I don't feel they were memorable, they were also excluded. This is based off how strong of a character I thought they were, not their likeability. I believe the best characters in the series have a conflict between good and evil, which plays a major part in the rankings.

50. Chester "Ziggy" Sobotka- Main S2

The only bad character of the wire, Ziggy is just extremely annoying and makes you wish you were watching anyone else, a horrible trait for any character. He screws up everything and has absolutely no redeeming factors whatsoever that could make him a stronger character. It's a shame he was given so much screen time.

49. Scott Templeton- Main S5

Scott is truly an asshole and has no redeeming qualities. He's not annoying in your face on the same level of Ziggy, but his plagiarism and lies drive me over the edge and he's definitely someone I would have like to see killed. 

48. Jay Landsman- Recurring All Seasons

Jay is fairly incompetent and annoying police, I know this is an unpopular opinion but he does barely any good things the entire show and just doesn't contribute much. He's a mediocre character to me.

47. Elvin Burrell- Recurring All Seasons

Elvin is another simply bad guy who has zero redeeming qualities, he simply doesn't match the level of the people below him.

46. Melvin "Cheese" Wagstaff- Recurring/Cameo S2-S4, Main S5

Cheese is another horrible, horrible guy but is definitely more interesting than any character mentioned so far.

45. Maurice Levy- Recurring S1, S3, S5, Cameo S2 and S4

Levy is another bad, irredeemable character but is fairly interesting and certainly quite smart.

44. Rhonda Pearlman- Main All Seasons

Rhonda is fine, I really don't see a lot of pros or cons with her. She's just there, but rarely has anything interesting to contribute.

43. Beadie Russell- Main S2, Cameo S3, Recurring S4 and S5

Beadie is an aspiring and good cop, but just doesn't have much in the way of interesting developments.

42. Thomas "Herc" Hauk- Main S1-S4, Recurring S5

Herc is definitely an interesting character and has some moments where is noble and intent on actually doing good police work, but much too often gets bogged down in stupidity and corruption.

41. Alma Gutierrez- Main S5

A good, fairly interesting character who just doesn't have the character development to be higher.

40. Leander Sydnor- Main S1 and S5, Recurring S3 and S4

As someone credited for 45 episodes, his character development is somehow worse than those with only 10. He's a good cop, just not that interesting of a character.

39. Terrance "Fitz" Fitzhugh- Recurring S1-S3, S5

See above, simply not a major character nor does he have much development.

38. Stan Valchek- Recurring All Seasons

37. Clay Davis- Recurring S1-S4, Main S5

36. Mailk "Poot" Carr- Main S1, Recurring S2-S5

Poot is simply weak. He has the good-evil conflict of his two friends, Wallace and Bodie, but unlike them, he can't commit to either side. He clearly dislikes the violence of the drug game but makes no effort to get out until the end.

35. Slim Charles- Recurring/Main S3-S5

34. Clarence Royce- Recurring S3, S4, Cameo S5

33. Augustus "Gus" Haynes- Main S5

I actually really like Gus, he's definitely the best media character, he simply doesn't have the level of development and storyline to be higher.

32. Roland "Wee-Bey" Brice- Main S1, Recurring After

Wee-Bey is a cold killer in the beginning, but shows some humanity in dealing with son later on.

31. Ellis Carver- Main All Seasons

Ellis started out on the same path as Herc, but really came into his own and did good police work in the last few seasons.

30. Nick Sobokta- Main S2, Cameo S5

Nick rides a great line between doing criminal things but still having fairly high moral standards.

29. Randy Wagstaff- Main S4

28. Michael Lee- Main S4, S5

A harder, colder version of Dukie who goes down a dark way.

27. Duquan "Dukie" Weems- Main S4, S5

A good kid with very bad influences, very interesting to see his conflict between having good intentions in the wrong surroundings.

26. Felicia "Snoop" Pearson- Recurring S3, Main S4-S5

A cold, evil killer, just not a ton of character development.

25. Preston "Bodie" Broadus- Main S1, S3, S4, Recurring S2

Bodie rides a great line between wanting to be a drug dealer but still having moral standards that he can't stand Marlo. He has his moments of humanity as well as his dark moments. 

24. Reginald "Bubbles" Cousins- Main All Seasons

A good man, one of the few characters we view poverty and addiction without being part of drug empire. I think he was let down by one of the less interesting storylines of the series. 

23. Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski- Main S1-S4, Cameo S5

Prez shows a lot of growth and heart as he goes from an asshole, corrupt cop to an effective then as a school teacher. Too many dark moments to rank him higher.

22. Williams Rawls- Main All Seasons

21. Brother Mouzone- Recurring S2-S3

With only 7 episodes, Brother Mouzone makes it count. By far the most interesting character with that amount of time on screen. A tough killer but one who is highly intelligent and has moral standards.

20. Frank Sobotka- Main S2

19. Namond Brice- Main S4, Cameo S5

One of the funnier and more entertaining people in the series, show a lot of growth and has a great relationship with Bunny.

18. Norman Wilson- Main S4, S5

Carcetti's right hand man, great banter with him and Carcetti.

17. Howard "Bunny" Colvin- S3, S4

One of the wisest and most mature cops, is bold enough to try new things and stands up for what he believes in even if it is not right.

16. Chris Partlow- Recurring S3, Main S4-S5

Perhaps the best physical villain of the series, no one puts up more bodies than Chris. Definitely a very evil character but has a charm to him. "He'll make quick and clean for you"

15. Shakima "Kima" Greggs- Main All Seasons

Great character, but probably top 3 in the first season, simply not as important after.

14. Cedric Daniels- Main All Seasons

Probably the least morally compromised character, Daniels is the true good of the series. Still, you need a darker side to be higher.

Every character from here on out is phenomenal and deserving to be on a GOAT list.

13. Lester Freamon- Main All Seasons 

Absolutely one of the most likeable characters in the series. Nearly flawless, but goes well with McNulty doing anything for a case when they can't get support from their superiors.

12. Proposition Joe Stewart- Recurring All Seasons

A wise man very much towards the top of the drug empire, yet he is by far the friendliest and least cold of anyone in the game. A lot of respect to this guy and his choices to avoid violence and try to work things out.

11. Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos- Main S2, Recurring S5

Absolute stylish gangster. Again not an especially cold guy compared to others.

10. Dennis "Cutty" Wise- Main S3 and S4, Cameo S5

Cutty has some of the strongest morals of anyone in the series, especially as someone who served a long term for being a barksdale soldier. He gets out and does right by nearly everyone, acting as great mentor to the S4 kids.

9. Marlo Stanfield- Recurring S3, Main S4-S5

Marlo is a fantastic villain. Really exciting seeing him build his empire in such dark ways.

8. Russell "Stringer" Bell- Main S1-S3

Stringer is one of the smartest in the series and is very much a methodical villain rather than a physical one. He is intimidating in how evil he can be yet is incredibly smart and careful. He goes a little too dark in some areas which makes him pretty unlikeable.

7. Avon Barksdale- Main S1, S3, Recurring S2, Cameo S5

Avon is the best villain of the series and is quite likeable. His level of evil doesn't strike a nerve the way Marlo and Stringer does as he does what he can to seize the top of the business and rarely affects anyone who didn't deserve or wasn't involved. 

6. Omar Little- Main All Seasons

Omar is a complex character who I don't consider a villain due to him working with and having relationships with the police and constantly being an enemy of the main villains. Exciting battles between his groups and Avon, Marlo, Stringer, etc.

5. William "Bunk" Moreland- Main All Seasons

Bunk is certainly the most amusing character of the series and probably most likeable. Excellent foil to all cops and treats everyone right.

4. Jimmy McNulty- Main S1-S3, S5, Recurring S4

Jimmy has more issues than anyone out there but compensates for it being a fantastic cop. There's a constant conflict between his obsession to do great police work and the alcoholism and adultery that comes with that. Very complex, interesting character who is loveable at times and hateable at others.

3. Wallace- Main S1

Wallace and D'Angelo are a phenomenal pair of guys born into horrible surrounding, but are both good people and realize this isn't the life for them. Tragic story for the both of them, but a phenomenal first season with them there.

2. D'Angelo Barksdale- Main S1, Recurring S2

D'Angelo has a bigger heart than anyone in the series and has the perfect conflict between staying loyal to his criminal family and doing the right thing. I really wished he informed on them.

1. Tommy Carcetti- Main S3-S5

Carcetti is elevated by Aiden Gillan's phenomenal performance. Really exciting to see his mayoral rise and the problems that come with being in charge. Quite a bit of moral dilemma as well, lots of great intentions but many areas he couldn't deliver on.