Recent Movies

 Everything I watched in October (so far)

White House Down- 7/10. Hadn't seen this one in a while. Plot is extremely stupid, but Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx are pretty likeable pair and it's a fun popcorn action flix. Just turn your brain off and have fun kind of movie. 

A Few Good Men- 8/10. Really engaging law drama, excellent courtroom scenes. Tom Cruise is great and really likeable here. 

The Martian- 9/10. Excellent movie, don't remember liking this so much on a previous watch. Just super entertaining realistic feeling sci-fi adventure that is quite thrilling and enjoyable throughout. Phenomenal cast. 

Social Network- 8.5/10. Another very compelling drama following a series of characters. None of the characters are all that likeable so it's interesting hearing them all defend their actions. 

The Northman- 8/10. Cool revenge film with some badass action sequences. Great cinematography in Iceland. Some weird stuff but mostly satisfying and entertaining. 

You People- 4.5/10. Not a good movie. There are some funny moments here and there, but overall the characters are not likeable and there's a lot of really awkward race socially commentary jammed in there. Final outcome is not believable or deserved at all. 

Zodiac- 7/10. Pretty good, fun lead trio of actors. Kind of peters out and gets less interesting towards the end. 

The Covenant- 9/10. Great movie, really intense and exciting action/thriller sequences. The two leads are fantastic and so is Anthony Starr. 

21 Jump Street- 8/10. Pretty funny and just feels like that 2000s comedy vibe. Enjoyable movie throughout, Jonah Hill is excellent. 

22 Jump Street- 7/10. Still funny but not quite as entertaining as the first one and some of the jokes don't really land. 

Thoughts on Adam Sandler- I Missed You Tour

 October 23, 2023- Honda Center: Anaheim, CA. Indoor venue where the Anaheim ducks play, pretty similar to typical NBA/NHL arenas. Conveniently located across the street from train station, although the trains running late are limited. 

Got there around 6:45PM and zero wait/very easy to get in, not the experience I had in previous shows. Disappointing the show was supposed to start at 7:30PM and didn't start until around 8:05PM. The lights went dark and Adam was talking, but some random guy comes on the opener. I'm a little disappointed "Surprise guest" is not a very popular comedian. His name was John Vessi or something like that, but I didn't see any results when googling him. Sandler mentioned he worked with him on his new netflix film "You're So Not Invited to My Bat Mitvah". For the most part, this guy was not very funny. He did have a few funny lines, but overall not great. Very dirty/sexual jokes. Funniest joke was something to the effect of he wears condoms during sex depending on the city he's in. When in detroit, he'll make sure to wear a condom because he doesn't want to go back. In Hawaii, he won't care as much because he doesn't mind returning. 

Next up is Rob Schneider. He's actually the 2nd of 4 special guests, which was a pleasant surprise. He was actually quite funny which wasn't expected because he was terrible in his movies. He starts off with something like he enjoys doing standup with Adam Sandler because in the movies, he's just making stupid noises. He makes a joke about how he's gotten fat, but likes being fat in America because there are so many people who look much worse. He makes a joke about how you never see homeless Asian people. 

Then Judd Apatow is next. He isn't super funny and his jokes are a bit dirty- lots about sex and porn. There were a few laughs but I can't remember any good joke. He also makes a joke about being fat but it's he can only see his penis if he bends over. 

Rob Schneider comes back on and makes a really awkward joke about Judd Apatow being liberal and liberals can get away with anything, but if conservatives do the same thing, they'll go to jail. 

Then is John Mulaney. Surprising to have 4 special guests, but I'm guessing that's the proximity to L.A. where so many entertainers are. His jokes aren't dirty for the most part, but aren't really that funny. He goes on a long joke about how his parents are too old and need to die, as being over 60/70 is weird and terrifying. Not funny. His last joke is much funnier about how he doesn't think dinosaurs actually exists and it makes no sense we put together piles of bones like that correctly. Before leaving, he says a museum worker was given 30 minutes to put together a piles of bones and then when he was done he realized he had two small bones left. He said those will be the arms and that's how the T-rex got small arms. Then he introduces Adam Sandler- about 30 minutes in. 

Adam would switch long standup bits and short, goofy songs the whole night. It was pretty funny overall, but some of the jokes didn't really land. One joke about him releasing a balloon, then the balloon comes back to thank him and asks to get eaten out. His jokes aren't super dirty, but are like PG-13. He does some of the signature adam sandler weird voices but never in way that makes the material worse unlike some of his movies. He has a part where he picks people out of the audience and makes fun of them. Rob Schneider comes back for a solo song which is actually pretty good. The guy who makes crazy eyes pops up just to make that face. He finishes up with a chris farley tribute song and a song dedicated to his love for his wife. The funniest joke to me was saying ice cream cones should have an age limit of 8, because grown men licking cones is really creepy. He then proceeds to pretend to lick the microphone while imitating a older parent talking to young girl. 

Overall probably give it a 7/10. Good show- funny, not hilarious. Ended around 10:20 so Adam was just under 2 hours. Length felt appropriate. With the big venue, sometimes the laughs obscured the volume. Would go to a separate tour. 

Recent Shows

 You S4- terrible. The first half is really solid with some great characters, but it goes down such a dark direction after that where you can't root for any characters at all. The plot twist is easy to see coming and Joe crosses over into pure evil territory in a way that isn't satisfying at all. 

Severance S1- good. Explores the really interesting concept of being severed- your work memories and personal memories are separate so you essentially live two lives. Felt it could have gone into more "thriller" category but instead played it slow, but overall a really solid watch. 

Mandalorian S3- decent. Half the episodes in the season are unfocused filler like some of the S1 episodes. Then there are some really good ones in there too. But much worse than S2 on a whole. 

Ted Lasso S1-3: awesome. Hilarious show with great characters and consistently has excellent and satisfying moments. Absolute bummer that's over. 

Beef S1: pretty good. Starts off a bit weird but I really like the whole flawed protagonist approach. Everyone has massive flaws/does terrible things but at least attempts to be good every once in a while so you have to make decisions about who is worth rooting for. Episode 9 goes into hard crime thriller territory and is excellent. A little disappointing in the finale, wanted 10 more minutes or so to check in on the other characters as it leaves it on such a cliffhanger and likely won't get more content. 

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3

 Pretty good overall- give it an 8/10. First half is fairly dull and it feels like a bad movie, actually wanted to leave the theater early on. Gets significantly better in second half with the final act (last hour) being really excellent and having a lot of great moments. It wraps up the guardians arc super well without closing the series off for more adventures if need be. 

Spoilers below:

...

Rocket is essentially the core of the movie as he is out and needs saving. His flashbacks are actually really good and there's some dark + very sad material in there that's done well and typically the MCU is more lighthearted. His final scenes and also redemption like material are fantastic. 

The villains are really mediocre/forgettable. Not terrible but Adam Warlock is really underused and not in it much. His mom is annoying and has zero impact. The real villain is fine but not especially fleshed out or intimidating. 

Most of the characters are pretty good and have their moments. Mantis and Drax are both called out as being useless by Nebula and then it's cool to see Drax actually knows a language they don't and Mantis calms down the beasts at the end. Star Lord is pretty good and has good moments. Wasn't a big fan of Gamora. 

Thoughts on Fast X

 Really mediocre movie- 5/10. Wasn't expecting it to be great, but definitely fell short of the recent movies at least having great action sequences. For the most part, everything was just okay- it was never terrible or unwatchable, but there were few good moments either. 

The good:

-Dom/Vin Diesel is better than usual. He's still a bland character, but it feels like there's less stupid Dom stuff than usual (like him jumping into the water for no reason in F9)

-Similar John Cena/Jacob is way better. Went for a somewhat comedic approach which was a much better fit for a John Cena actor. His scenes aren't great, but they're not bad either, and at least he's not Dom. His last scene in the movie seems really pointless.

-Han and Deckard are some of the better characters in the franchise and their action sequence was on the better of the one. Unfortunately Jason Statham was not in the movie much at all. 

-The post credits scene is a good and at least confirms that a character that has been missed is returning. 

The okay/whatever:

Many of the characters: letty, cipher, tess, little nobody. None are bad, but none are particular good either. 

The bad: 

-lack of exciting action. All the other issues are expected, but for a fast movie this far in to have so few action spectacles is disappointing. F9 clearly has a ton of issues but it was one of my favorites in the franchise because the action sequences were great. The same can't be said here of the boring, less big/explosive sequences or the final action sequences where the CGI is awful and the picture is so stupid looking it's bad. 

-the tej/roman/ramsey combo who I thought was pretty funny and had enjoyable banter throughout F9 has horrendous dialogue here and are easily some of the worst characters. 

-Dante. Jason Momoa should be a good addition, but his villain is absolutely terrible. So poorly written with the character supposedly motivated by revenge but acting like an absolute child at all times seemingly just there for fun and never actually hurting Dom or his friends. So many times where he could have been taken down and then randomly gets away because of ridiculous plot situations. 

Series rankings:

1. Furious 7

2. F9

3. Fast Five

4. Fast and Furious 6

5. Hobbs and Shaw

6. Fate of the Furious

7. The Fast and the Furious

8. Fast X

9. 2 Fast 2 Furious

10. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

11. Fast and Furious

Narcos: Mexico

 Just finished. Better than expected for sure- very solid overall with some great moments/episodes. Overall, not quite as good as the original Narcos but absolutely worth watching.

Season 1- 8.5/10. Starts a bit slow but intense storyline towards the end. Felix is actually likeable for most and interesting seeing him build his empire. Last few episodes thrilling.

Season 2- 9/10. Great season- lot of good and exciting storylines. Felix becomes an absolute scumbag which is pretty entertaining. The walt storyline is pretty good.

Season 3- 6.5. Still semi entertaining but the loss of Diego Luna hits hard. Highlight is definitely the battle between Sinaloa and Tijuana. Missed opportunity with Amado, not much going on with him. Walt suddenly is terrible for some reason. Awful subplot with the reporting. Great subplot with the cop stuff.

Characters

Great- Felix, Victor, Don Neto

Good- Amado, Benjamin, Chapo, Hector Palma, Kiki

Okay- Ramon, Jamie, Rafa

Bad- Enendina, Azul

Terrible- Andrea

Thoughts on "You" (TV Series)

 S1- 6/10. Entertaining but awful characters.

S2- 9/10. Pretty great. Peak characters, fun twisty storyline.

S3- 6/10. Good characters, but plot gets really dull in middle. Some unsatisfying directions the show goes.

Overall Season 2 was great TV but the other two were heavily flawed. Highlight is definitely Penn Badgely as Joe. 

Character rankings:

Best- Joe

Good- Love (great S2, weak S3), Cary, Sherry, Marrienne, Ellie, Delilah, Forty

Okay- Matthew, Will

Bad- Beck, Theo

Awful- Peach, Candace

Thoughts on Uncharted

Just okay overall. Pretty generic action blockbuster film, entertaining throughout but very little innovation and a lot of weak spots. 5.5/10, worth watching but not a much and definitely got butchered a bit.

Pros:

-Tom Holland is surprisingly pretty good and by far the best performance/character. It's not quite authentic Nathan Drake but works as a young adventurer vibe. Really zero flaws in his character/performance except some goofy comedy bits/one-liners

-It's entertaining throughout, not really a boring moment. This doesn't mean its great but overall moves at a decent pace and isn't a movie one would regret watching.

-The ships/cove reveal is well done and a nice callback to Uncharted 4.

-The after credits scenes are surprisingly pretty good, wish the movie had been more like this.

-There is one pretty cool cameo.

Cons:

-Besides Holland/Drake, the performances and characters are largely awful. Generic forgettable henchman that borderline on cringe (the scottish jokes did not hit at all), Chloe Frazer was horrible and a butchering of her character, the black girl was one of the worst characters of the last few years. Mark Wahlberg/Sully isn't quite as bad but is generally dull and Wahlberg is clearly miscast.

-The twist. Props to them for trying that in a relatively safe blockbuster (it was not expected) but Banderas was probably the second best performance in the movie so changing that dynamic with a much, much weaker character did not pan out. Also very little time was actually spent on any shocking/brutal nature of the twist so it ends just not working at all.

-Many of the video game callbacks trying to showcase real Uncharted video game moments are pretty bad.

-Some of the visuals are rough. 3rd act is not good.

-Script issues. A lot of stupid dialogue and moronic character decisions. Made zero sense that the villains would go after them with the ship and helicopter intact given how risky that was and the likelihood of destroying the only things they came for. 

Thoughts on Recent Movies/Shows

 Everything since beginning July. Spoilers.

Thor: Love and Thunder- 7.5/10. Solid but disappointing. Christian Bale, Natalie Portman great and Chris Hemsworth another good turn as Thor but everyone else gets left behind. Thought Crowe as Zeus was cringe and the comedy there didn't hit at all. Just a mess of a movie that doesn't live up to Ragnarok at all, but still some cool, the best being the black and white scene where Gorr captures and tortures them. Also, it was really dumb how Jane becoming Thor wasn't really explained or shown at all.

Train to Busan- 8.5/10. Wow, great movie and much better than expected. Dull/boring first 15 minutes then non-stop exciting thrills, one of the best zombie films I've seen. Great thriller. A little ridiculous how much the COO villain character was able to pretty much kill everyone and the end was silly (the army is really just going to shoot potentially safe humans just because they can't tell if they're zombies down a dark tunnel?). Every Korean film I've seen has been pretty violent/disturbing and this was no exception (I Saw the Devil, Oldboy, Parasite).

West Side Story- 6.5/10. Pretty solid musical, might be higher if I enjoyed musicals more. Thought some of music hit really well, other ones I didn't love. Ariana DeBose was good but not sure why everyone thought that such an awesome performance rather than a good one, thought Rachel Zegler's was better. The super fast transition to everyone getting killed could have been done a lot- rushed and a lot of deaths where people grieving went from upset to nonchalant very quickly.

War Dogs- 6.5/10. Seen this several times now. Entertaining throughout, but just solid all around. 

Death on the Nile- 5.5/10. Pretty mediocre, but mostly entertaining at least. I guess Armie Hammer will never act again but he was pretty solid here. Not as bad as Murder on the Orient Express, but can't say the reveals were super satisfying here. It takes a long time to get to the action and most of it is underwhelming. Decent performances by Kenneth Branagh and Tom Bates, Russell Brand surprisingly not actually bad. Gal Gadot unsurprisingly very bad.

In the Heights- 5/10. Didn't love this one. I preferred the style of West Side Story where they'd have musical scenes and plot scenes, but here they'd just burst out singing at any time which I've never been a fan of. (Much prefer having a set number of musical pieces rather than just signing any time). I don't like singing their everyday casual lines- it doesn't sound good to me and comes off weird. Anyway, just didn't find this to be good or satisfying, I didn't like how he gave up on his dream of moving at the end when that was the whole plot of the movie.

Casino Royale- 9/10. Best bond movie, just can't beat it. So many fantastic action sequences and lines. 

The Gray Man- 4/10. Trash movie, disappointing coming from the Russo brothers who have struggled post-marvel. I thought the Prague crazy action scenes were solid, but generally a big waste- bad characters, bad plot and mostly really incoherent and shaky, blurry action made this one a disappointment. Chris Evans was decent, Ryan Gosling and Ana de Armas totally wasted on terrible and bland characters. The other villains were just awful and really cringe. 

Dirty Harry- 7.5/10. Classic thriller, short and not an unenjoyable movie. Clint Eastwood kills it. 

Lost City of Z- 7.5/10. Surprisingly good historical epic. There are slow bits but Charlie Hunnam is really good throughout, probably his best performance and really carries the movie. The points in the Jungle exploring are really fascinating and the historic setting is very well done.

Shows: Started the show "You". Not sure why, it's not high on my list compared to many other shows but it just seemed like something that would be really entertaining. So far, I'd say it's good but flawed on not great. Big issues- it's 75% romantic drama, 25% thriller. The thriller stuff is great but way too much time is devoted to cringe over the top drama that can be hard to watch. Another problem is that while Joe is great to watch the rest of the characters suck and anytime the spotlight is taken off Joe, it becomes a short to watch. The episode (E4) surrounding Beck and her Dad was just really tedious and unenjoyable. I just watched E6 and it was really uncomfortable to watch him sneaking around the house and eventually get caught due to his stupidity. Just frustrating to watch Joe, a smart character, be put in tough situations due to stupid decisions he absolutely would not make. Hated Peach, she was starting to ruin the show for me so I'm glad she's out. If the cringe romantic drama plots dominate so much of the show in S2, I'll probably switch to something else.

Rewatching Fate of the Furious and F9

Recently rewatched Fate of the Furious and F9 for the first time. I find I don't remember a movie well or gain complete clarity until I watch it a second time (some movies I think are great the first time around then the second time I'm able to see its shortcoming or vice versa). I thought both were not quite as good as I thought initially in theaters but still solid overall. Fate of the Furious makes great use of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, but isn't a great cohesive experience and the story is so bad it's distracting. The story isn't anything to write home about in F9 and not having Statham and Johnson is a loss but I find it flows better as a cinematic experience and the action set pieces are awesome. 10 should hopefully be good following up on those action and adding Jason Momoa + the return of Statham. 

Overall: 

Fate of the Furious- 7/10. Fun action, set pieces, decent cast. Horrible plot/villain/use of Dom Toretto

F9- 8/10. Awesome action, backstory is surprisingly interesting. Lack of plot/main characters not compelling.

I've seen 7-9 a second time and Hobbs and Shaw a second time so I'll need to watch 1-6 to gain complete clarity/understanding. I doubt I'll ever watch 1-4 again though. Hobbs and Shaw is a lot of fun and probably my favorite tone with comedic action hints but the action isn't as good as the mainline series and the story and villain, even for Fast and Furious standards, is embarrassingly bad. 

Ranking of Series:

1. Furious 7- by far the best. Outstanding action and peak characters/story. A lot of really cool blockbuster moments. The closest the franchise has come to being a cool superhero/MCU like movie without being bogged with F&F nonsense. 

2. F9

3. Fast Five. I know people love this one, I'll need to rewatch. Possibly better than 9 but I really like the blockbuster feel of the new ones and this one feels more old school thriller. Certainly some great scenes though and not too many flaws.

4. Fast and Furious 6. Don't remember this movie at all, but I think it was solid all around without too many flaws.

5. Hobbs and Shaw

6. Fate of the Furious. I think I had this way higher but the plot and villain is just so awful, even with the low standards the franchise has. I'm not looking for a great story in these kinds of movies but I'm not expecting it to be distractingly bad either.

7. The Fast and the Furious. Solid but flawed overall

8. 2 Fast 2 Furious

9. Tokyo Drift. Apparently people like this one. Can't defend why I don't like it since I don't remember but I doubt I'd want to watch it again

10. Fast & Furious. Absolute trash

Favorite Characters

1. Brian O'Connor. I like Statham and Johnson much more but they always play the same characters and O'Connor certainly has much better character than probably anyone in the franchise without Paul Walker being a horrible actor like Vin Diesel.

2. Luke Hobbs. Can't beat Dwayne Johnson in action comedies. Just so fun to watch

3. Deckard Shaw. Love Jason Statham but prefer Johnson and Johnson has more movies

Ranking Every 2021 MCU Projects

 4 Movies, 5 Shows. Some good stuff but overall a weak year.

9. What If?- 2/10

Absolute garbage, explored ideas that aren't interesting/people don't care about. Maybe 1 or 2 decent episodes in the whole thing. Watching S2 is going to a be a chore.

8. Wandavision- 3/10

Don't understand why people liked this show. Boring, weird, vision was decent but Wanda just really annoying. Side characters mostly terrible.

7. Eternals- 4/10

Awful character development, a few stood out (Kingo, Sersei, Gilgamesh) but most were terrible (Ikaris, Thena). Flashback format was really choppy and hurt the flow of the movie. Plenty of stupid character decisions. 

6. Black Widow- 5/10

This was fine, just hard to get too excited about a black widow when she's one of the worst characters in the MCU. Really awful final act. Yelena was great.

5. Loki- 7/10

Pretty consistently solid throughout, but never really got great for the most part. Thought the story would be more exciting/thrilling. Disliked Sylvie but really liked Mobius. 

4. Falcon and Winter Soldier- 7/10

Unlike Loki where just about everything is solid but nothing great, this show has big high and lows. There's a lot of really bad subplots/characters like the Louisiana Stuff, Villains, and Sharon Carter but the stuff with Zemo and John Walker is great, and there's some nice action + visuals in there. 

3. Hawkeye- 7/10

This is again similar to Loki being pretty solid throughout but mostly lacking great moments. There's nothing bad here but nothing amazing. I generally enjoyed the setting/action and lead characters more so it's the best MCU show so far in my opinion but these three are very close in quality for me.

2. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings- 8.5/10

Awesome movie with minor flaws. Action sequences/soundtrack is phenomenal and makes it a joy to watch. I like the central trio of Shang/Xialing/Katy but Wenwu is absolutely the standout character, great backstory. There are a few scenes/moments that are so well done that's its just something to behold (bus fight, Shang and Wenwu reuniting in Macau with the head touch, Wenwu massacres his mother's killers). Only complaint is the climax feels a bit rushed/unearned with Katy suddenly becoming an incredible archer in no time and Shang-Chi mastering his mother's skills almost immediately.

1. Spider-Man: No Way Home- 9/10

There's actually a lot of things I don't like about this movie but the second half just has so many amazing moments that it comes out on top. The three spiderman moments is fantastic superhero cinema while Green Goblin and Doc Ock are fantastic. The ending is so great, it's chilling. I think the secondary villains are pretty weak and get little development/interesting plotlines. The whole premise/setup is just kind of bad and hinges on Doctor Strange being a bit of a moron.

2022 Marvel Project Ranked by Anticipation:

5. Ms. Marvel- 2/10

Who Cares?

4. She-Hulk 3/10

Who Cares?

3. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness- 8/10

This looks interesting, but I don't really like Scarlet Witch as a character. More interesting in the evil Strange plotline.

2. Moon Knight- 9/10

Really excited for this show, has a cool look and Oscar Isaac is always great.

1. Thor Love and Thunder: 10/10

This follow up to Thor Ragnarok should be fantastic with Hemsworth and Waititi returning. The addition of Christian Bale and the Guardians should be great. Just don't see any way this movie turns out to be a disappointment.

Thoughts on 2021 movies

 Ranked Worst to Best: Updated 1/1/2022

I don't remember a lot of these.

24. Woman in the Window

-very boring, weird

23. Coming 2 America

-just so many bad ideas in the writing of this one: wesley snipes and semmi are decent, but every other character is basically totally disgraced by the writer, especially Akeem

-Lavelle is an awful character

-The music bits are terrible and take up way too much screen time

-Chris Morgan detracts from the movie

-James Earl Jones is fine

-Very disappointing overall, feels like a straight to DVD kind of film. Surprised it got around a 50% on RT, feels like a 5% kind of movie

22. Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run

-Keanu bits were good?

21. Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard

-lazy, unfunny jokes throughout

20. Eternals

-just terribly developed characters on the whole, no real villains

-A few decent characters with potential

-Ikaris and Thena very bland/bad

19. Godzilla v Kong

18. Spiral

-Chris rock great performance

-Terrible ending

17. Red Notice

-Tired of Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson always playing themselves

-Gal Gadot awful

-Terrible twist

-Still entertaining

16. Venom: Let There Be Carnage

-Lazy writing, huge tonal shifts between murderous Carnage and joking Venom, doesn't work at all

-Carnage's transformation then death is so rushed

15. Black Widow

-Yelena is pretty good

-Solid humor

-Awful villains, terrible last third

14. The Tomorrow War

13. Quiet Place II

-moronic decisions made by many characters ruins a lot of it

-sweet ending twist, cillian murphy pretty good

12. Raya and the Last Dragon

-largely mediocre, not especially funny but entertaining enough

-Sisu by far the best character

-Great ending

11. No Sudden Move

10. The Suicide Squad

-Harley Quinn and Idris Elba great

-first group of characters terrible

-enjoyable but forgettable

-starfish is ridiculous

9. Army of the Dead

-Fun action film

-Everyone dies way too suddenly

8. Judas and the Black Messiah

7. Jungle Cruise

-fun and entertaining throughout, Dwayne Johnson very likeable

6. King Richard

5. No Time to Die

-Rami Malek is bad

4. Dune

3. Shang Chi

-Wenwu is a fantastic and sympathetic villain

-Shang Chi and Katy's skills in the final battle are very rushed/not believable at all

-Katy seems to have no purpose most of the movie

-Awesome action sequences, especially the bus scene

-Great visuals and soundtrack

-Family scenes are so well done

-Great Wenwu moments: vengeance on mom's killers, head touch with Shang, Death/realization of his wrongness

-Wish Shang Chi/Simu got more dramatic moments

2. Fast 9

-worst characters of the franchise (no statham, johnson, walker anymore) but Tej, Roman and Ramsey are very funny and entertaining

-Everything with Vin Diesel is terrible

-Surprisingly dramatic and awesome flashback sequences

-John Cena is terrible

-Awesome action sequences throughout, really carries the movie

1. No Way Home

-Everything with all three spidermen is excellent and so well done

-Ending is fantastic and really sad

-Doctor strange is poorly written/stupid

-The plot is poorly setup, hinges on Peter going to Dr Strange and Dr Strange screwing up which is out of character

-Doc Ock and Green Goblin are outstanding but Electro, and especially Sandman + Lizard are way underdeveloped

Spider-Man Rankings

 Movies:

1. Spider-Man: Far From Home 9/10 

2. Spider-Man: No Way Home 9/10

3. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse 9/10

4. Spider-Man 2 9/10

5. Spider-Man 8/10

6. Spider-Man: Homecoming 8/10

7. The Amazing Spider-Man 7/10

8. Spider-Man 3 6/10

9. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 5/10

Villains:

1. Green Goblin (Dafoe) 

2. Mysterio 

3. Vulture

4. Doctor Octopus (Molina)

5. Sandman 

6. Lizard

7. Green Goblin (DeHaan)

8. New Goblin

9. Electro

10. Shocker

11. Venom

Characters:

1. Peter Parker (Holland)

2. Quentin Beck

3. Peter Parker (Maguire)

4. Adrian Toomes

5. Peter Parker (Garfield)

6. Norman Osborn (Dafoe)

7. J. Jonah Jameson

8. Otto Octavius (Molina)

9. Gwen Stacy (Stone)

10. George Stacy (Leary)

11. Ned Leeds

12. Flint Marko

13. Michelle Watson

14. Ben Parker (Robertson)

15. Curt Conners (Ifans)

16. Mr. Ditkovich

17. Gwen Stacy (Howard)

18. Flash Thompson (Revolori)

19. May Parker (Tomei)

20. May Parker (Field)

21. Richard Parker

22. Roger Harrington

23. Liz Toomes

24. May Parker (Harris)

25. Dr. Curt Conners (Baker)

26. Mary Jane Watson (Dunst)

27. Ben Parker (Sheen)

28. Harry Osborn (DeHaan)

29. Ursula Ditkovich

30. Herman Schultz

31. Betty Brant

32. Flash Thompson (Zylka)

33. Harry Osborn (Franco)

34. Max Dillon

35. Aaron Davis

36. Eddie Brock

37. George Stacy (Cromwell)

38. Rajit Ratha

39. Alexei Sytsevich 

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.

Ranking the 32 Mario Kart 7 Courses

A while back, I ranked the 32 courses for the wii. Mario kart was an extremely enjoyable experience on the wii, and while I haven't yet matched that level of enthusiasm, skill or amount of time I'm finally back to Mario kart after a 3+ year absence, this time in the form of Mario Kart 7 for the 3DS
(I have a 2DS). I've played the game enough to get a sense of which courses are good and which aren't, so here is my ranking below.

32. DS Waluigi Pinball
31. GCN Daisy Cruiser
30. Cheep Cheep Lagoon
29. GCN Dino Dino Jungle
28. Rosalina's Ice World
27. Bowser's Castle
26. Rock Rock Mountain
25. Piranha Plant Slide
24. Toad Circuit
23. Shy Guy Bazaar
22. N64 Luigi Raceway
21. N64 Kalimari Desert
20. DS DK Pass
19. Wii Maple Treeway
18. N64 Koopa Beach
17. DS Luigi's Mansion
16. Daisy Hills
15. Wario Shipyard
14. Mario Circuit
13. Wii Mushroom Gorge
12. Neo Bowser City
11. Wii Koopa Cape
10. SNES Rainbow Road
9. DS Airship Fortress
8. Wuhu Loop
7. Music Park
6. DK Jungle
5. GBA Bowser Castle 1
4. SNES Mario Circuit 2
3. Rainbow Road
2. Wii Coconut Mall
1. Maka Wuhu

Breakdown into New/Retro

New
16. Cheep Cheep Lagoon
15. Rosalina's Ice World
14. Bowser's Castle
13. Rock Rock Mountain
12. Piranha Plant Slide
11. Toad Circuit
10. Shy Guy Bazaar
9. Daisy Hills
8. Wario Shipyard
7. Mario Circuit
6. Neo Bowser City
5. Wuhu Loop
4. Music Park
3. DK Jungle
2. Rainbow Road
1. Maka Wuhu

Retro
16. DS Waluigi Pinball
15. GCN Daisy Cruiser
14. GCN Dino Dino Jungle
13. N64 Luigi Raceway
12. N64 Kalimari Desert
11. DS DK Pass
10. Wii Maple Treeway
9. N64 Koopa Beach
8. DS Luigi's Mansion
7. Wii Mushroom Gorge
6. Wii Koopa Cape
5. SNES Rainbow Road
4. DS Airship Fortress
3. GBA Bowser Castle 1
2. SNES Mario Circuit 2
1. Wii Coconut Mall

I will be back with a ranking of Mario Kart DS courses and Mario Kart 8 deluxe courses (ordered and on the way).