And so another year passes. I’ve been doing these for quite a :

…so I think perhaps you get the idea.

All together, I love collecting data and I find it interesting to take a moment to look through what all I’ve done in the year. And hopefully–you find it interesting as well!

Overall, it’s been quite a year for reviews! This year I

• Read 298 books
• Watch 17 seasons of TV
• Watched 11 movies
• Played 212 different (86 new) board games a total of 1521 times
• Played 47 games on steam

It’s so silly to see some stats like that. I love it. So let’s break it down a bit more!

Table of Contents

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Edgin: We must never stop failing, because the minute we do, we’ve failed.

Oh, that’s such a fun movie. It takes the delightful chaos of an idolized Dungeons and Dragons session, leans hard into the worldbuilding of the Forgotten Realms (without strictly requiring you know anything about it); and cranks up the visuals up to 11.

There’s gobs of humor, some pretty crazy action scenes, and a big ’evil skybeam’ action scene that every movie nowdays seems to have. Really, there are just so many great individual scenes. The initial view of the prison–and the prison break. Fighting a certain dragon. Asking exactly five questions of the dead (it goes exactly as you’d expect).

The characters and casting were really quite fun too. Chris Pine’s Edgin the bard really sells teh movie, but I loved the over the top paladin feel of Regé-Jean Page’s Xenk and Daisy Head’s bonkers Sofina. Michelle Rodriguez as a barbarian? Yes please. Hugh Grant as Hugh Grant? A delightful surprise.

It’s great. Give it a watch.

Xenk: You may have forsworn your oath, but your oath hasn’t forsworn you.
…
Edgin: Just because that sentence is symmetrical, it doesn’t make it not nonsense.

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The Royal Family comes to Downton Abbey.

Anna Bates: Is it always like this?
Richard Ellis: A royal visit is like a swan on a lake. Grace and serenity above, demented kicking down below.

It’s basically a film length episode of Downton Abbey. And that’s not a bad thing.

I think I would have preferred it stay on the small screen, but if that isn’t in the cards, it’s nice to at least have a chance to have one last* (grand) hurrah for the characters.

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Rocket: Someday I’m gonna make great machines that fly. And me and my friends are gonna go flying together, into the forever and beautiful sky.

Well that was fun. If you liked the previous two Guardians of the Galaxy entries (or especially the Holiday Special), I expect you’ll love this. If you didn’t care for them, there’s a chance!

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Oh that was delightful. How did I not watch this sooner?

In a nutshell: it’s a standard “save Christmas” plotline gone so very very alien. With Mantis and Drax having the main plotline to bring Peter Quill that one perfect gift is so fun. They’re just alien enough to bring more than a touch of chaos with them to Earth while at the same time human enough to relate to.

On the other hand, don’t expect anything deeper than the above. There really isn’t anything here you’d miss by not watching–but on the other other hand it’s a quick watch and fun enough to be worth it.

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Upside: It’s visually super colorful and weird and it’s got a lot of potential for the new MCU Phase 5!

Downside: It’s … weird and chaotic and doesn’t really fit with anything else we particularly know.

Overall, it’s … fine? I enjoyed watching it, but it’s in the category of MCU films that I doubt I’d watch again unless I’m doing a full rewatch (which is getting to be quite the endeavor).

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I somehow managed to never watch Hercules growing up. It just wasn’t one of the Disney movies we ever had.

Which is a bit of a bummer, since that’s quite a good time! Better late than never though.

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How?
How is never as important as why.

So. How do you fill the giant Chadwick Boseman shaped hole in the MCU?

Apparently… with funeral services, Atlantis (but not), mer-Hermes (the first self described mutant in the MCU), and–eventually–someone new to take up the mantle.

It’s… fine?

There were certainly some pretty spectacular action scenes. The under water scenes are pretty–even if they only sort of make sense. The character and costume design continues to impress. And there are giant piles of funeral services and mourning.

On the other hand, the sudden introduction of an entire (large) underwater civilization feels… weird. And as we’ve had before with the Marvel movies, some of the big battle set pieces don’t make that much sense. They’re going out on a boat to fight water people. All to… limit how many fighters they have to film? And then all but like ten people die and we’re just okay with that?

Overall, it’s about the middle of the road so far as Marvel movies go for me. Pretty good, decent action, but there have been better entries. Pretty high up for 2023, but that’s probably more because I haven’t seen that many movies this year.

Onward!

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It’s Winnie the Pooh–but now at Christmas time! Not sure how much else there is to say.

I so remember the old Winnie the Pooh & Christmas Too (from 1991). Man the nostalgia when the bugs (and their Napoleabug leader) sound the charge. I don’t even know when I would have watched it, but I remember that part!

It’s cute. The kids enjoyed it. It’s probably not something I’d ever choose to watch.

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