#and how many tropes (like extreme violence against black men or black characters made incompetent for comedic effect) have deep roots | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

the-desolated-quill · 7 years ago

Text

The Quill Seal Of Approval Awards - The Best Of 2017

It’s an established scientific fact that the real world is horrible. Full of nasty, hideous and deeply unpleasant things like racism, corruption, global warming, terrorism and prawn flavoured crisps. No wonder more and more of us are turning to the world of fiction to escape from our unhappy lives.

Yes a number of good stories have come out this year, and as it’s the last day of 2017, it’s time once again for the Quill Seal of Approval Awards. Where I pick my personal favourite stories of the year and hopefully persuade you to give them a try if you haven’t already.

Before we start, two things. One, this is my list. If you disagree with my choices, that’s absolutely fine. Go make your own list. And two, full disclosure, I haven’t been able to see everything 2017 has to offer for one reason or another. So please don’t be angry at me because movies like Get Out aren’t on this list. I’m sure Get Out is as brilliant as everyone says it is and I’m sure it would win a Quill Seal of Approval Award. I just never got around to watching it this year (also fuck you Golden Globes. Satirical horror is not the same thing as comedy horror. From what I’ve heard, Get Out is not remotely like, say, Shaun Of The Dead or Zombieland. Satire is not synonymous with comedy, you know? It doesn’t need to make you laugh. That’s not a requirement of satire. I mean look at Black Mirror. That’s satirical. What about George Orwell’s Animal Farm? That’s satirical. Would anyone ever consider either of those to be comedies? No! Of course not! Do you know why? Because they’re fucking depressing, that’s why! If you thought either of those were funny, you require serious psychiatric attention, you sicko!)

...

I’m sorry, I went off on a total tangent then. What were we talking about?

A Series Of Unfortunate Events (TV Series)

There had been rumours for ages that we were going to see another attempt to adapt Daniel Handler’s post-modern series of gothic children’s books after the painfully lacklustre movie starring Jim Carrey, and on Friday the 13th January (on my birthday! EEEEEEE!!!), we saw Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events arrive on Netflix. Speaking as a massive fan of the books, I absolutely adored this adaptation. TV is just such a better medium for the Baudelaires than the movie was.

Adapting the first four books of the series, Season 1 follows Violet, Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire, having recently lost their parents in a terrible fire, trying to keep their fortune out of the clutches of Count Olaf; a vile villain and even worse actor. The series is being adapted by Barry Sonnenfield and Daniel Handler himself, and not only remains close to the original source material, but also expands on it thanks to the TV medium. It also boasts a great cast. Neil Patrick Harris is incredible as the villain Count Olaf, able to walk the line between comic and sinister effortlessly. Malina Weissman and Louis Hynes are both great as Violet and Klaus, and share excellent chemistry on-screen, selling the sibling affection better than the movie did. There’s also Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket, who offers deadpan comic narration, as well as K. Todd Freeman as the incompetent Mr. Poe, Aasi Mandvi as the eccentric Uncle Monty, Alfre Woodard as the petrified Aunt Josephine and Catherine O’Hara as the perfectly innocent, I swear, optometrist Doctor Orwell.

Admittedly this may not be to everyone’s taste, but if you’re into family friendly viewing that intelligently mixes both the surreal and the macabre, then I’d say definitely check out A Series Of Unfortunate Events. It’s perfectly wretched :)

Wonder Woman

Warner Bros and DC may have completely fucked up their shared universe thanks to the total cock-up of Justice League, but one good thing did come out of the DC Extended Universe this year. Wonder Woman.

Finally making her cinematic debut, Wonder Woman is definitely one of the strongest superhero movies to be released in recent memory. Patty Jenkins does an amazing job bringing this feminist icon to life and Gal Gadot gives quite possibly one of the best performances in any superhero movie to date. This naive, but passionate warrior who takes it upon herself to try and save the world from the evil influence of the Greek God Ares. But what I especially appreciated was how the movie went beyond the simple hero vs villain story and really created something both powerful and socially relevant with its themes of love and sacrifice. The main takeaway from the film is that evil isn’t an external force or outside threat. It’s something that exists in all of us. We all have the capacity for violence and treachery, but if we could all just learn to love and support each other, and work together, we could help change things for the better. It sounds incredibly hokey when you say it out loud, but the movie conveys it extremely well.

If you haven’t already, definitely check out Wonder Woman. It boasts a strong female protagonist and an intelligently written and emotional story with a noticeable lack of the sexist tropes and cliches you’d normally find in these kinds of movies. Hopefully Wonder Woman will be the start of a whole new wave of female talent both in front of and behind the camera (and when I say women, I don’t just mean white women... please! Feminism only works if all women benefit from it after all. Let’s see some more women of colour in the director’s chair and on the red carpet).

War For The Planet Of The Apes

The long awaited conclusion to Caesar’s story, War For The Planet Of The Apes is simultaneously both the darkest and the funniest of the rebooted Planet Of The Apes movies. As the human race lash out against the apes in their desperate bid to survive, we see Caesar face his ultimate test. Will he lead his tribe to salvation or be consumed by inner darkness just as Koba did in the previous movie?

While not the strongest movie in the Caesar trilogy, it’s still exceptionally good. Andy Serkis gives the best performance so far as Caesar, and you really feel for him as he undergoes his inner conflict. He’s by far one of the strongest protagonists to come out of a Hollywood blockbuster, and War serves as a fitting end to his story. Director Matt Reeves continues to make us care deeply for the apes’ survival, with characters like Maurice, Rocket and newcomer Bad Ape providing many touching and comedic moments to alleviate the tension and darkness. We also see some strong human characters, such as the mute Nova, played by Amiah Miller, and the antagonistic Colonel, played by Woody Harrelson, who definitely stand head and shoulders above the other human characters in the previous films.

A lot of filmmakers could learn a thing or two from these films. 20th Century Fox should be immensely proud of this trilogy, and I hope the franchise will remain this intelligent and impactful in the future.

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

No! Stop it! I can see you sniggering! ‘Oh! Quill honestly thinks this puerile kids movie full of toilet gags is worthy of some kind of award, does he?’ Well, actually yes. Yes I do. And before you judge me, have you actually watched the movie? No. I didn’t think so. So why don’t you get off your high horse and go into this with an open mind because I’ll think you’ll find Captain Underpants is one of the best kids movies ever, so there!

Based on the popular (and surprisingly controversial) series of children’s books written by Dav Pilkey about two troublemaking schoolchildren, George and Harold, who hypnotise their mean principal into thinking he’s a superhero and go off on a series of whacky adventures, Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is an excellent adaptation that captures the books’ humour and message perfectly. Yes it’s filled with toilet gags and fart jokes (and I can see you rolling your eyes dismissively already, you snob), but it all serves a purpose, and the message behind Captain Underpants is incredibly unique for a kids film. That sometimes a little rule breaking is okay provided it doesn’t go too far. Children are often forced to conform to societal norms, and discouraged from certain things because they’re ‘inappropriate’. Captain Underpants serves as the perfect antidote to that, encouraging children to actually have fun and let their imaginations run wild. The toilet gags and adolescent humour in this film are very funny. It’s not very high brow or sophisticated, but it doesn’t really need to be neither. That’s the point. Captain Underpants is basically a celebration of the childish and the silly, implying these things have value in and of themselves rather than just dismissing them as being ‘immature’.

If you have kids, this would be a perfect movie to show them, and you just might reconnect with your inner child in the process. And if you need further convincing that Captain Underpants is worth watching, consider this. Did you know Harold is gay? Yeah! In the final book of the series, Harold meets his future self and discovers he’s married to a man and has two children. So it’s a cleverly made family movie that encourages children to be creative and to not feel constrained, and offers positive representation for the black and LGBT communities. Suddenly this movie doesn’t feel so puerile anymore, does it?

Logan

I never thought I’d see the day I’d actually be praising a Wolverine movie.

After two failed attempts, 20th Century Fox finally offers a Wolverine movie that doesn’t make me want to fall asleep, tear my hair out in frustration or gouge by eyes out with ice cream scoops. Logan is not only the best Wolverine movie, but quite possibly the best movie in the entire X-Men franchise. Hugh Jackman gives a brilliant performance in his last ever portrayal of the character and Patrick Stewart is equally as good as an elderly Professor X.

Logan is as tragic as it is thought provoking, deconstructing the idea of a superhero and spelling out in no uncertain terms how Wolverine utterly fails to meet that criteria. It’s dark, hard-hitting and surprisingly poignant as we see Wolverine desperately try to redeem himself, escorting a group of young mutant children across the border whilst metaphorically passing the baton to them. He may have failed to be a superhero, but he could well have saved a new generation of mutants that will succeed where he failed.

If you haven’t already, you need to watch this movie. Even if, like me, you don’t like Wolverine very much, you should still watch it. Logan more than makes up for past mistakes, I assure you.

The Tick

Are you getting sick to death of the over-saturation of superhero movies and TV shows these days? Then The Tick is the perfect antidote for you!

Based on the comics created by Ben Edlund, The Tick essentially drops a Saturday morning cartoon character into a Christopher Nolan-esque environment. Serving as an affectionate parody of the superhero genre, The Tick is both incredibly funny and surprisingly clever. Peter Serafinowicz does a stellar job in the title role, giving a performance almost reminiscent of the late Adam West, and is both charming and hysterical. But the true star has to be Griffin Newman as the Tick’s sidekick Arthur. While his surroundings are incredibly wacky and surreal, Arthur himself is treated with the utmost care and sincerity. He is to all intents and purposes the main character, as we see him try to overcome his own anxieties and insecurities in order to expose a plot from supervillain the Terror. He is the emotional centre that the show revolves around and is what elevates The Tick from being just a simple parody to a legitimately good superhero show in its own right.

The first half of Season 1 is available to watch on Amazon Prime, with the second half due to be streamed in February 2018. if you haven’t already, check this show out.

Horizon Zero Dawn

Finally we end with a video game, and it’s a very special video game (well it would be. It’s on a best of 2017 list). Horizon Zero Dawn. Created by the same people who did the Killzone games, Horizon is an open-world adventure game set in a post post-apocalypitic world where machines dominate the landscape and humanity have gone back to basics, living in isolated tribes and shunning the technology of the ‘Old Ones’.

Two things make Horizon Zero Dawn stand out. The first is the world itself. Guerrilla Games have created a very rich and nuanced setting, and as you explore the environment and collect datapoints, you begin to piece together how exactly human society as we know it initially fell hundreds of years ago. The machines are well designed and each have a very specific purpose, and the tribes are incredibly well thought out with believable hierarchies, belief systems and societal structures. It’s simply fun to explore this world and interact with its inhabitants.

The second is the protagonist the entire game revolves around. Aloy. A young outcast woman who goes in search of her parents and ends up discovering herself. She’s a classic archetypal hero and one of the best female protagonists to come out of the video game industry for quite some time. She’s a fully realised, three dimensional character with her own goals and motives, and is at no point ever sexualised or objectified. Even when she’s captured by the baddies, the game never resorts to sexist tropes or cliches. Just as Wonder Woman represents a significant milestone for women in film, Aloy represents a significant milestone for women in video games. She’s intelligent, resourceful and immensely likeable and I was completely emotionally invested in both her as a character and her journey. It’s not only fun to explore the world of Horizon Zero Dawn. It’s fun to explore the world of Horizon Zero Dawn with her. If you have a PS4, definitely get this game. It’s a must-own and you won’t regret it.

And that’s it for this year. All that’s left for me to say is Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and I hope that your 2018 is less shit than your 2017 most likely was.

youtube

#the quill seal of approval awards 2017 #the quill seal of approval awards

10 notes · View notes