Films watched in 2021

I watched 121 films in 2021! Year on year i’ve gotten into film in a big way, and where previously entire years would consist of just a handful of trips to the cinema for the latest superhero releases, i’m now trying to branch out, watching older things, more diverse offerings, and going out of my comfort zone. This is still a work in progress! Every film I watched in 2021 and full statistics are here, but nonetheless I thought I would do a personal, more reflective wrap up as well.

Diversity

One of my New Year’s Resolutions for 2021 was to watch more cultural, ethnic, and gender diverse films. This started off with good intentions, but i’ll be honest, i’m not entirely sure I succeeded here. Early into the year I watched the entirety of Steve McQueen’s excellent Small Axe anthology series, I watched more “chick flicks” than usual, and several film picks were just random whims, but I still don’t think I gave this resolution as much of a push as I had intended. A problem that arose early on from my film habits were the same actors reappearing, so, in the case of Marvel Cinematic Universe rewatches, heroes and villains reoccur, while watching Wes Anderson films throughout the year, as a director he also has a repeat band of actors that he works with. Both, exmples above, being predominantly white. So while this is definitely part of a wider Hollywood problem -i’m reading Helen O Hara’s excellent Women vs Hollywood atm- it is still a bit of a rut I need to get out of myself as well.

Most watched

This year, my most watched director was Wes Anderson (with 6 films), and Willem Dafoe (with 9 films) as my most watched actor. The former was catching up on a film works backlog, while the latter was more accidental: of the nine films, three were Spider-Man titles, and four were from works by Wes Anderson. An easy self-fulfilling victory. Bill Murray and Owen Wilson were second tied for actors, with eight films each. Mostly the same problem problem again. Elsewhere for directors, four films were by Steve McQueen, and three by M Night Shyamalan, but ultimately out of the 13 directors -with more than one film watched- the majority were white and male. There’s room for improvement here- in 2022 I want a radically different line-up here, with lots more female directors if possible.

Films of the Year

I made a list of my favourite films of 2021 (that I saw), but ultimately the year comes down to two faves in particular.

After watching a lot of his past works, The French Dispatch by Wes Anderson goes completely in on the director’s “house style”, with narrative whimsy at 100% the whole time. But more than that, the film has an excellent, often mind baffling technical craft to it, with a space and set design completely unparalleled to anything I’ve ever seen before. It is three separate story vignette’s that come together, and ultimately it’s a bold exploration of storytelling through different mediums and techniques in each of those stories. Lots of fun! Two people left the cinema halfway through the film, perhaps because of that whimsy, but I loved it,

My other big fave was Dune, by Denis Villeneuve. I am, ashamedly, not familiar with the Frank Herbert novel source material, but seeing this on screen -twice- was an event. As a film it is unapologetically epic with a swagger throughout it’s proceedings, with huge spacecrafts descending on planets into even bigger, vaster, deserts. I love that it never diluted what it was trying to do. There are no quips, no dumbing down, no simplification, everything here is so solid and uncompromised it it’s vision from it’s narrative, to it’s visual design, to the incredible soundtrack by Hans Zimmer, a man finally firing on all cylinders once more. As a film it lives and breathes, and pulsates, and moves, and the night ater seeing it I was having incredibly mad dreams about what I had watched. The film was a complete surprise for me.

Going forward, i’ve already mentioned above I want to try a lot harder to watch a more diverse selection of films from a more varied list of creators. As far as 2022 film goals go, that’s probably it. Additionally, I want to promote that resolution more, so discussing things here, and reviewing more. Keeping my goal in check and alive, instead of buried! I’m more interested in watching films because of word-of-mouth recommendations as well, instead of watching things because I “should” or simply because of hype. Less superheroes. So, reflective updates on this blog will hopefully be more frequent, but week to week, again, everything will be getting tracked on my Letterboxd profile. You can keep tabs on me there to make sure i’m staying on track!

January Status Update

After the excitement, fun, and just mega relaxing of Xmas and New Year, January has been for the most part a long uneventful month. Lockdown is infinite, work is forever, weekends are my time. After setting some resolutions and goals for the year ahead, January has been a month of forming new habits and behaviours.

With long nights and more time inside, boardgames were great distractions. This month Ailish and I started playing Ticket to Ride: Europe, after getting it for Xmas a few weeks previously. The Ticket To Ride series is something I’ve been aware of for a few years now, but this was my first time playing any of them in a series now spanning the last 16 years. Players take turns bulding trainlines and transport networks across a map, scoring for objectives and route length with coloured carriage meeples and card drafting. I’m mostly indifferent to trains but I missed travelling so much last year, so it was fun plotting journeys across a map and visiting different capitals. We both liked the game a lot (and scored highly!) so this one is definitely a keeper, and game nights in general are something we’re wanting to do more regularly. It will definitely be getting played more!

View fullsize

Last year I watched 141 films in, around, and after the initial lockdown and had a great time doing it. Seven starred Michael Caine, six with Daniel Craig, and five directed by Christopher Nolan. Of my twenty five most watched actors that year only one -Morgan Freeman- wasn’t white(!), and of the sixteen directors, only one again stands out- Taika Waititi. Going in to this year I wanted to watch things more culturally and gender diverse instead of just distinctly and predominantly white male. This is a longer goal, but this month I watched the excellent anthology series Small Axe by director Steve McQueen. The five stories individually show different aspects of the culture, segregation, and racism of London’s West Indian community between 1960-1980 and combine to paint a bigger unique picture. All the films have a distinctive voice and there is a very real sense of history and documentary within each film. It feels and looks real, because, well, these are stories that really happened, and Steven McQueen is great at capturing that. It’s very well done, and I’m on board to follow whatever he does next.

View fullsize

One of my other big resolutions for the year was to do more creative writing! This month I started on a short story, wrote a synopsis for something bigger that’s been rattling around for a while, and entered a short 50 word contest. A great start, but as the month went on things changed pretty abruptly and it’s not something I’m going to be able to prioritise for now…because I’m studying again! After some really nasty existentialism and doubt last year I felt I wanted to actually do something, and I’m now enrolled doing postgraduate History and Archaeology of the Highlands and Islands through part-time distance-learning. I woke up and just jumped in! This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a few years now and while I continue to doubt if I’m clever, young, or have enough time to do it succesfully, I’m looking forward to the challenge. The opening module lasts from now until May, giving me a break before continuing again with the next one after the summer. This is something I’m hoping to focus on a lot this year and while it’s worrying I’ll have less free time, it’s exciting knowing that something bigger is happening instead.

With a Covid_19 vaccination still months away for me even with good intentions 2021 is probably going to be a difficult year again. I want to be out, seeing people, having dinners, and travelling, and none of that will probably be possible again for a while. It’s reassuring however, if the world does go fully tits up again, it means I have some goals and habits, plans and resolutions to keep me ticking over. Less uncertainty please.

December Status Update

With most of the year in tatters, new strains of virus, and further lockdowns, things weren’t looking too optimistic for the end of the year. November went by quickly, but doubly so for December; a month full of dark mornings, darker afternoons, and, well, dark days every week to be honest, with little breaks for good weather or activities outside the house.

A week before mainland Scotland entered lockdown again (or “Tier 4”-the same thing really) we managed to escape to the cinema again for one last big film of the year, and watched Wonder Woman 1984. As with Tenet earlier in the year the experience was great, with huge visuals, epic sound, and great atmosphere. I’ve only been to the cinema five times this year and while the two afore-mentioned films weren’t always perfect, I really missed cinemas this year! I miss doing things in general if I’m honest! I’ve missed seeing people, and the same weekend as Wonder Woman 1984 I got to catch up with lots of friends for two separate Secret Santa lunch gift exchanges. As with cinema trips both lunches make up only a handful of meals I’ve had with friends this year, and after the year being what it has it was great seeing so many people for the first time in ages, safely. Lots of in-jokes, and food, and nerd talk, and great gifts too, from people that I’ve relied and depended on a lot this year. Even with masks and distancing, everything that weekend felt incredibly…normal- a fantastic mid-way relief from winter.

View fullsize

Until Xmas Eve, and maybe even the day itself I hadn’t been feeling very festive at all, so our Xmas tree went up relatively early in December, and there was always lots of films on to try and chase or replicate that feeling. Some worked better than others. Household and family-mixing was advised against, so after a busy social weekend the weekend before, Xmas this year was just my partner, our dog, and I, and this was really great. The usual amount of food, drink, and bad films were all there, and everything was just. so. relaxed. It was fantastic switching off from everything outside the house and inside my head for a while, and even without the festivities this would’ve been more than enough. No appointments! Nowhere to be! No social arrangements! Just a few days of long-needed lazy off-mode indulgence and time spent as a family.

There were gifts too! An excellent selection of books I’m now planning for a similar reading challenge to this year’s, new boardgames to play, and clothes too. The best present was the most unexpected: this year I was fortunate enough to unwrap an actual velociraptor tooth gifted by my partner. What the fuck! A 700-million year old tooth that’s now in the house and on the bookshelf, and undoubtedly one of the best gifts I’ve ever received. I still can’t believe it to be honest.

View fullsize

Xmas and year-end are a great time for giving, spending time with loved ones, and reflecting. This year I’m incredibly thankful for anyone that’s suffered my moaning, moodswings, or mental disasters, and I really appreciate anyone this year that has listened. As everything outside in 2020 got harder I’ve spent a lot more time inside and in my head, and video-chats, online D&D, and being here, blogging, has helped me vent accordingly. Even if or when things “go back to normal” I really want to keep all of this up. 2020 has been an absolute shitter, but maybe some things can stay.

Faves in 2020

Normally year-ends are marked with numerous rundowns, “…of the year” posts, and favourite picks. This year has been a bit different release-wise across various media, so I wanted to do something different other than obvious game/film etc of the year and enthuse instead about my late discoveries or personal entertainment highlights from the year. Stuff I’ve missed or not fully posted about yet. Catch-up year!

‘Trail of Dead live, The Mash House in Edinburgh

In March before everything went tits up we were very fortunate to get a mini break in Edinburgh . Two weeks before UK Lockdown was even a remote possibility I was lucky enough to get to see one of my favourite bands play live in quite possibly the most crowded, loudest environment ever. …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead have been a band that I’ve been a big fan of for close to 20 years now, so it was incredibly rewarding finally getting to see them live after all this time. The band played lots from their back catalogue as well as plenty from their new album this year -X: The Godless Void and Other Stories- and the gig was probably one of the most thunderous and booming shows I’ve ever been to. Volume is subjective and usually with hyperbole, but I’m not lying when I say I didn’t know bands were allowed to play so loud…legally. I had extra tinnitus for days, annnd declaring that now makes me older than ever. Sorry.

Spotify and BBC Radio 6 Music

This year I started listening to BBC Radio 6 Music in a big way and after defaulting to Apple Music for years, this year I rejoined Spotify as streaming provider. These are quite small things, but both changes resulted in me discovering and listening to a lot more bands, artists, and genres than I have in any other year. I listed to 241 new artists this year(!) and 327 total, a lot more than my usual standard plays and go-to favourites. So lots more diversity this year- here’s my playlist of my favourite songs from this year.

Lots of Films!

With lockdown and being off work earlier this year I watched a LOT of films. In total this year I watched 81 Films For the First Time, and 140 films overall. In the absence of cinema trips here were plenty of rewatches of past favourites instead, and Christopher Nolan, Michael Caine, and Peter Jackson all featured quite heavily- here’s my stats in full. Next year I’d like things to be a bit more diverse, cult, and overall varied. Any recommendations let me know!

Lots of Books!

This year I aimed to read 25 books and while I quite havent reached that target yet (there’s still tiime) I’ve read a lot more this year than normally and spent more time actively reading accordingly. My favourite audiobook this year is Pet Sematary by Stephen King, I’ve posted about that already, and one of my favourite books was We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson. Again, I’ve already posted about that, so let me offer up my other favourite instead…

Ice by Anna Kavan

I picked this up at random earlier in the year, and I read through it pretty quickly. It’s set in a distopian post-apocalyptic landscape where the cold stings and a chill bites throughout. Things happen, and there are scenes and events, but I wouldnt say there is plot, if that makes sense. It’s a maddening blizzard of a journey where things and narratives happen in paralell to each other but you’re never really sure what it real and what isnt. It’s magical in places with it’s language, sometimes feeling like a bleak fairytale in others, but it’s a piece of media that’s really stuck with me throughout the year. It’s not for everyone, but it’s definitely something I want to reread slower and even more thoughtfully next year.

Nintendo Firsty-Party Games

Animal Crossing: New Horizons released earlier this year and over lockdown and in the absence of structure, was something that I enjoyed and played immensely. The game really helped me relax and switch off, and ultimately give me something to obsess over instead of doomscrolling. Nine months later i’m still playing frequently. Also helpful and fun, my friend group started playing Mario Kart 8 online most sunday nights. In a time where couch-multiplayer is disappearing from games (regardless of social disctancing) these nights really felt old-school fun, and again, something good to distract and break up the week.

Online Dungeons & Dragons

Something that equally kept me ticking over was voice chat D&D, and playing over Roll20. I’ve probably played more this year than any other year combined with near weekly precision. In one campaign i’m heist happy halfling Panwick, in the other i’m dashing, dumb, dentist half-orc Henk. Both campaigns have been great distractions, and good burst escapes from reality.

Airiel

This year I listened to so much shoegaze and dreampop, and Airiel were one of my early discoveries through Spotify. BAND OF THE YEAR! Admittedly they only released one single this year and the stuff I did listen to was mainly from 2017-2004, but band of the year! I really enjoyed playing their dreamy/floaty, lets be honest, lovely discography and zoning out especially during the height of lockdown/2020 doom hell. The band are one of my favourite things this year- definitely on the list to see live once things are okay again.

Dishonored

The Last of Us Part II came out in June and really blew me away with it’s bold narrative choices and heavy story consequences, but after completion I bounced off it pretty hard and revisited my backlog. The original Dishonored came out pretty late in one console generation and early into another so it was something that like lots of things I never really got round to. I played through the base game and all it’s DLC this year and I fell in ove pretty much straight away with its open-ended gameplay and the world narrative that it’s all set against. I jumped into it’s sequel shortly after and it was the same here, but with even more polish and gameplay options to be had. I had so much devious stealthy fun with this series I really regret sleeping on the franchise for so long, especially now that it seems finished. I would still definitely recommend playing the games even now

October Status Update

2020 has been a scary year, and I wouldnt be lying if I said I’ve been a bit overwhelmed by it all at least ten times this year already. With a second wave of Covid_19 hitting Europe and the UK now (or just a continued first wave?) for me personally this month there’s not much to report. With venues and shops closing earlier due to restrictions, darker and stormier nights, and NO SOCIALISING WHATSOEVER it’s been a very quiet month, and one with very little respite from the ongoing Monday to Friday 9-5 work drudgery. Again, scary stuff, so with everything hellishly terrible I decided to lean into it all a bit more and made a point of really doing nothing this month except consume horror books/tv and film.

For the longest time Horror media of any sort was just a big no-no for me. Cowardice, confusion, a lack of…risk taking? I’ve read Stephen King as a teenager and forever since, but I was always aware of my limits and sensitivity. As I’ve gotten older it’s something that I’ve found myself enjoying more and more, particularly in film and literature. My favourite thing about the genre is that invariably it has some of the most human themes and characters compared to absolutely everything else and that it rewards looking inwards at self, identity, and just humanity in general. Not always of course, but a great number of stories look at what makes us human, what our relationship is with each other and then makes a horror or fear out of something that is the opposite.

Two years ago Netflix produced and released The Haunting of Hill House, a one-off miniseries inspired by the Shirley Jackson book af the same name. I loved it. It was tense, dark, it was about love, it was about hope and light, and it really opened up the genre for me, both series and book. The show was one of the most complete, satisfying, and absolutely whole things I’ve ever watched. This year it’s follow-up released -again a miniseries- this time inspired by The Turn of The Screw by Henry James. I wasn’t familiar with the source material but I was very excited to watch the show as a spiritual follow-up with the same cast and creative team. The first night we watched three episodes, another three the second, and the final three on the third, closing the entire show out within one weekend. Thematically it’s very different to ‘Hill House with a horror and darkness that sometimes feels altogether more frightening. It’s a lot lighter on tension and jump scare set pieces, but it was incredible at studying humanity, life, death, and the transition thereof. I really want to watch it again and think and talk about it a lot more- a revisit is guaranteed once I’ve finished reading the book.

View fullsize

I made a point of watching only Horror films this month and things that kind of came under that genre, so yes, Hocus Pocus, The Addams Family and Practical Magic were all allowed of sorts. I finally watched Halloween (1978, John Carpenter) this month, having ignored/missed/avoided the franchise my whole life. It was incredible! A real old-school practical slasher flick with lots of scares and jumpsightings of famous stabber Michael Myers throughout, and so really well done. A whole 42 years later(!) I think the film has aged phenomenally and I really regret missing out on it for so long. My other big film fave was Us by Jordan Peele. Get Out, his directoral debut, was critically lauded and while I could recognise it’s brilliance upon watching it, it wasn’t really something that I admired. Against the majority, I much preferred Us. An absolutely stellar, bold, and complex piece of both narrative and filmmaking. It’s not without it’s flaws, but it has buckets of allegory to unpack throughout and really taps into some very nasty unnerving human fears.

As with Halloween this month I went back to another genre-definer classic and I listened to Dracula by Bram Stoker. I knew going in that this was perhaps going to be a bit of a difficult one, but I really didnt enjoy this much at all. It puts all the pieces on the board with a creepy castle, stakes, garlic, bats and fangs, inspiring everything forever afterwards but I found it really dry. The opening chapters are enjoyable and engrossing -Tense! Creepy! Dramatic!- but the second half of the story meanders and dithers so much. The protaganists think, and observe, and ponder which is great, but it’s all with very little urgency. There’s lots of exposition but the story just felt unecessarily long. Not for me. Conversely, I really enjoyed -and I really can’t believe I’m comparing the two- listening to Coraline by Neil Gaiman. I find with Gaiman he’s generally really good at creating unease from the simplest of childhood fears and anxiety, and Coraline does this so well. A dark twisted fairytale about things that are different, changing circumstances (which are just the scariest at any age), and uncertainty through younger eyes. I’ve seen the film before but this was my first time with the book and I liked it a lot.

View fullsize

Going forward there’s still lots to do. At the moment it seems like some of the scariest stuff is on the news and there for us all to see whether we like it or not, but I’m in the process of reading The Turn of the Screw and i’ve started reading the numerous short stories by Shirley Jackson too. In an ideal situation it would be proper lockdown again with all the time in the world to read and watch so much more and already I feel like I really missed plenty of other great stories I could have done. As the horror that is 2020 continues, I’m sure there’s going to be plenty of dark winter nights to get stuck into some of them.

September Links

Some interesting stories, thoughts, and ideas i’ve discovered throughout September 2020, rounded-up.

Text

Scientists Rediscover Rare ‘Singing’ Dogs - I’m not saying I have one in the house already that makes noise when the postman arrives, but i’m not not saying that either.

What Does Everyone See in Jesse Plemons? - From being absolutely the bigest asshole in Breaking Bad to main cast in the recent I’m Thinking of Ending Things and all the supporting roles in between, Jesse Plemons is getting a lot of work. This is an excellent profile on his rise to stardom his confusion thereof. We recently watched him shine in Season 2 of Fargo- he’s definitely an actor worth following.

The Controversial Origins of the Story Behind Mulan - Disney’s recent live action Mulan has been embroiled in delay after delay, pricing concerns, and even social boycott. In this story TIME examine just how faithful (or otherwise) it is to the legend, and if it matters or not (I don’t care for the animated ‘original’ all that much…)

Glitzy SUV Adverts Subverted on 100 Billboards by Guerilla Eco Warriors - ‘Brandalism’ is now both my favourite word and concept of 2020.

What is ‘friluftsliv’? How an idea of outdoor living could help us this winter - While a fireplace, books, and hot chocolate are usually the go-to idea of winter, here’s an alternative suggestion: go outside. Exploring and exercising in nature is a great way to escape mental hell and internet doom, and comes with lots of benefits. Tme to layer up.

What hundreds of American public libraries owe to Carnegie’s disdain for inherited wealth - An excellent article about sharing knowledge via wealth and the sacred comforting aura of the library. Andrew Carnegie built just over 2500 libraries in his lifetime and gave away the majority of his wealth. What a legacy! Take note Bezos and Zuckerberg…

This game of Dungeons & Dragons has been going on for 38 years - We’re only a few months in so only really scratching the surface tbh, but here’s a great story of history inspiring roleplay, the inifinite possibility of the game, and most of all, the comforts of a friend group kept together despite a worldwide pandemic.

The impossibly perfect landing of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 - I’ve never skateboarded, but the recent remaster of these games this month have been a long-time coming. These were the games I spent an entire puberty playing and now in 2020 it’s a remake that’s audiovisually perfect. Twenty years later it’s great picking up exactly where I left off, minus (most of) the tantrums.

Stolen books worth £2.5m found under floor of Romanian house - We’re not quite at ‘hiding books under the floorboards’ capacity level here in the house, but an interesting news story about a recent BOOK HEIST with plenty of advice, illegal or otherwise for moving and storing books.

Daily Pics of Chameleon Holding Lego - exactly as it sounds. Now, if only we could get him to actually sort and tidy Lego as well, that would be fantastic.

Video

Caravaggio: Master of Light - Another excellent video from The Nerdwriter, this time examining Caravaggio’s dynamic use of lighting in his works and the cleverness within. His paintings are always bold, brave, and really quite profound; a visionary ahead of his time

Audio

The SS Reoccurring Nightmare - These are the audio logs of Chief Engineer Marrow Pilkinbear of the spacecraft S.S Re-Occurring Nightmare. Some excellent sci-fi narrative v cleverly presented. Give it a listen!

Other

Autumn Feels Film Playlist - With Autumn now here/fast approaching I picked 10 of my favourite films relating to or about the season. Everything starting a bit warm and golden, quickly changing to cold dark nights and reasons to stay inside; Letterboxd rounded-up the most-mentioned from all the site users.

August Links

Some interesting stories, thoughts, and ideas i’ve discovered throughout August, rounded-up.

Text

Microplastics have moved into virtually every crevice on Earth - this sounds like a horrible nasty plot from a Doctor Who episode, but it’s actually happening right now (and for a while obv given findings), under our noses. Absolutely terrifying stuff.

The Unravelling of America - this is an immensely fascinating read by anthropologist Wade Davis on the formation of the United States, the history there-of, and it’s place now in a post-pandemic post-truth world stage. America now is where it’s been heading for a long time, and it’s a fall that’s happening real-time. Of note, “Trump is less the cause of America’s decline than a product of its descent”. Really recommend giving this a read.

‘We Are the Guinea Pigs’: Hollywood Restarts Its Blockbuster Machine - Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is probably one of the worst sequels in a while, but it’s interesting reading about the development and filming of it’s upcoming follow-up, and how they’re committed to continue filming safely, despite that whole 2020 Global Pandemic thing.

Fall Guys is Pure Saturday Evening Television After a hundred different first-person shooters, third-person shooters, and even Tetris, the Battle Royale genre finally gets the game it was invented for- I played it for a whole saturday night this month, LOTS of fun.

Bella Mackie: Is It Really A Bad Idea To Give Into Rose-Tinted Nostalgia Right Now? - I can relate to this so much, particularly about “the good old days”, taking things for granted, and honestly, just having happier times in general. 2020 has been incredibly awful- this year more than any other has just made me thankful for everything I do have.

The Matrix as a Trans Allegory - I haven’t seen The Matrix in a decade plus, but here’s a great Twitter thread by Netflix breaking down the connection between the cyber sci-fi action film and some of the transgender themes that it contains, compiling lots of links to supporting pieces in the process. Rewatch due soon.

What Dungeons and Dragons Taught Me About Politics - D&D is a game all about rolling for success, correct dialogue choices, and working well as a party, so this is an apt comparison. Travelling to Barnard Castle and rolling for an Intelligence Saving Throw isn’t something I remember in my adventure, however…

Get Happier by Rereading Your Favourite Books from Childhood - 2020 has been hellish. I’ve still got a massive backlog of both children and now adult books to catch up-on, but dipping in to familiar favourites in any media can be comforting. I rewatched a lot of my favourite films in lockdown.

Is It Possible To Have A Healthy Relationship With Social Media? - Why is disabling social media or leaving your phone at home so hard to do? I’ve been very guilty of doomscrolling these last few months, and some of these tips really helped me. It’s good to switch off.

Video

“This Is...” A Personal Ode to Going to the Cinema by Matthew Mulcahy/Little White Lies is a lovely short full of cinematic nostalgia and the memories created from cinema trips. I haven’t seen many of the films in the video so my own one would be quite different, but the sentiment here resonated with me a lot.

How a Last of Us Part II Level is Made - The Last of Us Part 2 is probably my game of the year, and narratively, one of my favourite stories ever. This is a great video by the always excellent Game Maker’s Toolkit/Mark Brown examing some of the environmental design and development. [SPOILERS]

The Batman - DC FanDome Teaser - You know, maybe it is time DC branched out a bit with their films and roster of Superheroes, but when there’s still so many possible interesting stories/casting/and set-pieces yet to happen, maybe more Batman isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This trailer really nails the character.

Audio

Kermode on Film: Christopher Nolan Special - my favourite film critic discussing films by my (probably?) favourite film director. This is a big two and a half hour ranking of every film directed by Christopher Nolan with lots of interesting consideration and discussion about each one. My favourite, still, is The Prestige.

2020 Best Of - Just a very loose WIP playlist on Spotify of my favourite music this year so far: i’m going to add stuff as I discover it!

Other

Would You Search Through The Lonely Earth For Me - a one page, one player, journalling rpg, that focusses less on the quest and the adventurer and more on the treasure or artefact itself. I’m hoping to play a lot of solo-RPGs over September to get something creative going, this one is probably going to be the foundation.

Ailpol on Instagram - i’d be remiss if I didn’t link this, but my partner has been working hard and posting a lot of really great art on her instagram recently, go have a look!

Films watched during UK Lockdown

I’m back to work properly tomorrow, I’ve had a haircut, and I’ve been out for lunch- I guess that’s lockdown fully over?

It’s been a really difficult few weeks that I’ve moaned about plenty already but in in that time I’ve missed having nights out/dinner, seeing friends, and most surprisingly of all: going to the cinema. I’ve missed the new film build-up, the hype, trailers, just the actual event of going to the cinema. The Coronavirus made for a nice backlog later in the year and next year as all the studios delay and postpone releases, but with all the stay-at-home practices in full effect, the last few weeks I watched a lot of films at home instead. Some of the films were new watches, but a vast majority of films watched were big, easy, familiar comforts instead, films sometimes just as rewarding even for the Nth time.

We watched The Dark Knight “trilogy”, all the Daniel Craig Bonds, The Hobbit/LOTR franchise (without ROTK, odd), lots of Taika Waititi, and more horrors than usual. 64 films in total, including plenty of my faves. I made a big list of everything I watched on Letterbox’d- it’s maybe not the most important film listing ever, but as we move further away from Lockdown (and hopefully Covid_19) it becomes worth remembering and tracking more. All those lost months. I’m having similar thoughts with my diary as we go through it, with the optimism that remembering all this in a year’s time will be a surreal, distant dream. We’ll see.

My own local cinema is still currently closed until the end of the month. I’m not sure if i’m quite ready to attend opening weekend of any film going forward, but it’s good to start taking steps “back to normal”.