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Best and Worst of Entertainment 2014 Edition

Clappy

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Clappy

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With perpetual lateness, I present by best television series of 2014. And I'll be honest, most of the stuff I hated/was disappointed in 2013 rebounded greatly in 2014.

10. Regular Show

While I don't think the show was bad these past few seasons, you could honestly tell the decline in quality compared to the first three seasons of Regular Show the past two seasons. So....much...Muscle Man. I don't want to compare Season 6 to the first two seasons which are wonderful, but this is the best Regular Show has been since Season 3. What helps this you may ask? The re-introduction of CJ on the New Years episode as a potential love interest. CJ helped breathe new life into this series as well as less focus on trying to be too far out there in terms of plot. Heck, I feel like Thomas's inclusion into this show was well worth it for the Russian spy payoff....whoops spoiler alert. So yeah, Regular Show rebounded for me in Season 6 and with the two part Christmas episodes being what they were, I feel like 2015 will be as good a year for Regular Show as any.

9. Gravity Falls

Need I say more? I've had this on here for the previous two years and I am going to sound like a record on repeat. This show is fantastic and I'm so glad it got a second season. Disney really needs to realize how wonderful of an animated show they have on their hands. It's cult following just keeps on growing and while the ratings haven't been as strong as say a Phineas & Ferb, the constant praise should keep this show going longer.

8. Total Drama: Pahkitew Isand

This is honestly what the show needed. A reboot with a new island and a new cast of characters. Only difference between this and the new cast of characters we got with Revenge of the Island is that these new characters are actually likeable and have distinct personalities. Most of the ROTI island characters I couldn't stand since they were rather dull. Not these people though. They were actually entertaining. My complaints are rather minor for this season. The lack of Chef was disappointing. There were times where Chris completely got on my last nerves due to his constant striving for ratings. In the past, he use to at least care about their lives. Oh and the whole twist involving Scarlett being the true villain of the season was awful. As a matter of fact, that whole episode was awful. But that's besides the point. The boot order was near perfect and I actually can't say that I hated a single character outside of Evil Scarlett and Sugar. Hell in Sugar's case, we were suppose to hate her. But yeah, this was a big step up from the clusterfuck that was All-Stars. Now I wait for the Ridoncoulous Race.

7. Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Andy Samberg was destined to be the star of this show. No one can pull off this role any better and that's not even the main reason I love this show. Next to New Girl, I can't think of a better ensemble cast. If you haven't checked out this comedy yet on the former Animation Domination day of Sunday, go check it out now. You won't be disappointed. What are you doing still reading this thread? Seriously. At least check out the first season now on Hulu Plus/Netflix/Amazon/whatever streaming site this is at.

6. Breaking Bad

2014 was also the year that I binge watched on Netflix what so many people were proclaiming to be the best show ever. Definitely this it's not. But I will admit that this show is great none the less. So many quotable moments and just compelling television. What I think helps solidify so many proclamations has to be how great the acting is. I don't know if Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul are ever going to break bad of being known as Walter White and Jesse Pinkman for quite some time, but both are such fantastic character studies that I won't forget either of their characters any time soon.

5. New Girl

This year was about redemption. And out of all the shows I have on this list, none of them redeemed themselves the way that New Girl did. The second half of Season 2 and especially the first half of Season 3 was incredibly hard to watch at times. I'm not against Nick and Jess as a couple, but I definitely think the show got into a massive slump once they got coupled up. It's not entirely that plots fault since Schmidt was less of a loveable douchebag and more of an irritating asshole for so many episodes. However, the Super Bowl magic worked as the Prince episode was a delight and everything after that really worked. Season 4 pounced on that hot streak and I've loved every minute of this season. This is the best New Girl has been since Season 1 and I honestly can't wait because the best comedy on television just keeps delighting me.

4. Girl Meets World

Of course the spin-off to my favorite show of all time makes my best list. This is everything that I expected it to be. Which means I was expecting it to be a modern Disney-fied version of my favorite show with the same amount of heart put into it. Of course I'm adoring all the Boy Meets World references as well, but I'm even growing into the Girl Meets World characters at the same time. I still am waiting to be truly blown away by Riley since I still find Rowan Blanchard's overacting to be tiresome. I also still am waiting to find Lucas to be more compelling, but he's gotten a lot better than being the pretty boy from the first couple episodes. What I'm really impressed by is Farkle's development from being more than just a modern Minkus and of course Maya is just a fantastic character. But the first season of this was great and I'm expecting big things from Season 2 with another Feeny cameo, more Shaun guest spots, and of course Plays With Squirrels himself, Uncle Eric.

3. Survivor: Cagayan

Notice how I specified this season in particular and not Blood vs Water 2. Cagayan is the best season of original Survivor players ever. You heard me right. Better than the first season. I know the original season was a game changer, but Cagayan is the epitome of how much this show has evolved. While I do like returning players, they were starting to wear thin on which contestants deserved to come back for a second go around. What I love most about this season is how many first time players actually showed up to play. I want to see a lot of these guys come back for second contestants. That's just how impressed I was with this season.

2. The Walking Dead

I was flip flopping between this and my number one choice for days. But I don't hold that against The Walking Dead. The reason why it's not number one is because of how there were one or two throwaway episodes from both S4 Part 2 and S5 Part 1. That being said, I'm glad Scott Gimple has an actual direction he wants to take the series. He knows what he's doing and I'm glad that the constant rotating door of showrunners has finally stopped. The most viewed cable program just keeps getting better in my eyes with actual storyline progression and nonstop enticing thrills. Now if only we can finally get to DC so we can get to the Saviors storyline because I absolutely can not wait for that.

1. South Park

The main reason this made it to number one is because of how experimental this season was compared to others. The fact that there were so many homages to continuity...something South Park rarely does; made this season a golden one in my eyes. Even the weakest episode of the season Handicar has actual replay value. Just ten solid to spectacular episodes that really makes this one of the best seasons of South Park ever. Eighteen seasons in and this show just continues to amaze me in ways that I didn't expect.

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10. Regular Show

 

While I don't think the show was bad these past few seasons, you could honestly tell the decline in quality compared to the first three seasons of Regular Show the past two seasons.  So....much...Muscle Man.  I don't want to compare Season 6 to the first two seasons which are wonderful, but this is the best Regular Show has been since Season 3.  What helps this you may ask?  The re-introduction of CJ on the New Years episode as a potential love interest.  CJ helped breathe new life into this series as well as less focus on trying to be too far out there in terms of plot.  Heck, I feel like Thomas's inclusion into this show was well worth it for the Russian spy payoff....whoops spoiler alert.  So yeah, Regular Show rebounded for me in Season 6 and with the two part Christmas episodes being what they were, I feel like 2015 will be as good a year for New Girl as any.

I thought Regular Show was called Regular Show.

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Finally.  I have finished.

 

Sorry this took so long, but allow me to rap myself up here by doing my Best Films list of 2014.  This year was incredibly difficult to choose my best list because while I do feel some choices were very deserving of being on here, not all of them were.  Compared to past years, a majority of this list wouldn't even come close to competing with 2012, 2013, etc. best list choices.  I felt like I had a problem with most of the films I saw this year.  That's not saying all of them were bad, but even the so called good movies this year were flawed.  Hopefully 2015 will rebound in a big way because I found myself drifting away from the form of entertainment I love the most in movies.  But allow me to end my procrastination of the inevitable with:

 

CLAPPY'S TOP 10 FILMS OF 2014

 

....of course I'm going to reveal the others in consideration of this list.

 

Boyhood

 

This year's prestige indie flick that's winning all the best picture awards in the circuit.  I'm cheating and counting this on here even though I saw it last weekend.  Was it a good movie?  It was fine....but holy crap for what I (and all critics) consider a good movie did it really piss me off.  This isn't even the best best picture nominee, but I don't want this to win.  I will admit that I really appreciate the fact that it took twelve years to make a movie about a child growing up.  The effort is obviously there and it gets an A for that...but the execution gets a C-.  It felt like I was watching Mason's home movies more than his boyhood.  And just like a home movie, it needs a lot of editing in terms of scenes dragging for what felt like forever.  For a twelve year long movie, it felt like it took twenty years off my life.

 

Big Hero 6

 

Honestly, seeing this a second time was a mistake.  Don't get me wrong, it's still a good movie, but it came off more as "just fine" this time around.  It didn't have the lasting impact that Frozen had for me....and so many other people this year too apparently after giving it a second glance.  I still think that Disney is having a very strong pace going in terms of non-Pixar animated movies since 2010, but Big Hero 6 just did not have as good of a replay value for me as it did the first time.  The animation is still very good and I really do enjoy the story of Hiro and Baymax a lot.  I just wish that the other four of the Big Hero 6 weren't subjected to secondary character treatment because I feel like that this could have been a lot better if they went that route.

 

Mockingjay Part 1

 

Had to chime in on this.  This really isn't a honorable mention.  It's an ok movie that was still better than most of this year.  But I really hate this splitting the last book into two part fad.  Look no further at this movie as a perfect example as to why this doesn't work.  This movie was just way too much narrative and not enough action compared to the first two installments.  I know it's going to set up to Part 2 being a lot more action and I know how the movie is going to turn out in general.  But I just don't respect making Part 1 suffer for Part 2 to be the better.  It helps the movie become more profitable, but to a movie buff like me, it hurts the product we are watching to get to the conclusion.  Oh and since I also adore music...why did James Howard and Lionsgate do this?

 

 

Why is this a radio single period?  I like the song in essence of the movie because it makes sense if you read the book...but ugh.  I hope Part 2 is better because I hated Mockingjay the book primarily because of how it ended.  Part 1 was fine though and a lot better than I was expecting since I wasn't looking forward to this in comparison to other Hunger Games movies.

 

Muppets Most Wanted

 

Another movie I was heavily looking forward to this year that disappointed me.  I expected a sequel much better than what we got since The Muppets was easily one of the best movies of 2011.  Maybe I shouldn't have hyped myself up that highly.  I still liked it and the celebrity cameos in this were incredible.  But man, did I ever keep thinking about how glorious the original was compared to this sequel.  I seriously hope the original Muppets wasn't a fluke because of Jason Segel's involvement because I expect better Muppet movies in the future to make up for this disappointment. 

 

Neighbors

 

At first I thought this was definitely a lock for my best list, but honestly....this movie has gotten impressively stupid after repeated viewings.  I don't know why because I still enjoy this movie a lot.  But it has lost it's luster as the months go by, but I still recommend this since it's one of the best comedies of the year.

 

John Wick

 

....I'm glad that I liked this.  I've always wanted to show how big of a guilty pleasure Keanu Reeves is to me.  Especially after that monstrosity that was 47 Ronin last year.  Because for all the crap that Keanu Reeves gets for his "acting", he can be a credible actor when he gets the chance to show it.  Not only was this the best Keanu Reeves acting performance we've gotten in the last decade, this is one of his best action movies period.  I only wish that this will get a cult following so we can have a new Keanu Reeves action franchise.

 

X-Men Days of Future Past

 

Huge sequel that was great at first, but after repeated viewings, the flaws were kinda bringing this down a bit.  Don’t get me wrong, I still think this helped reboot the X-Men movie franchise in a bigger way than origin stories…hell I think this was probably better than First Class four years ago.  But it just didn’t have that epic feel that I was waiting for this movie to have that most superhero movies have been executing well lately.

 

Gone Girl

 

I wanted to like this movie a lot more than I did.  The book was fantastic and this movie was a pretty damn good adaptation.  I mean it managed to get a great performance out of Tyler Perry of all people involved.  Top notch acting, top notch directing, a damn good screenplay...I mean what could have kept this off my Top 10 list....well guys, how about the fact that this is MY Top 10 list.  And the main reason is mine.  I went through an ugly breakup around November as it was well documented in my sharing time.  We had this book/movie as a common reference point since we read the book together and we saw the movie together.  I can't think of this movie without thinking about my ex.  I know it's unfair for the film itself, but I'm still trying to recover from this mess.  I will give it the most glorified honorable mention I can give it with making it my unofficial #11.  But I can't put this in my Top 10 until I feel more personally inclined to watch this again without getting too attached to my past.

 

 

 

 

10. How To Train Your Dragon 2

 

Spoiler

 

I know coming into this year that the sequel to How To Train Your Dragon was going to be hard to top the original….and it didn’t.  But it sure did damn try to and I have to give this sequel credit.  It actually tried to carve out it’s own identity to the best of it’s ability.  Which I have to give it credit for it’s braveness and it’s boldness to go much darker than the original was and actually succeed in my eyes.  I did not see some of the moments of this movie coming while watching them.  It’s a crime that this didnt outgross the original because while I still like the original better, this deserved to at least outgross it.  But hey, I won’t hold that against probably one of the best animated sequels I’ve seen in some time.  DreamWorks may be having a rough few years in terms of profits, but as long as they keep making movies as good as HTTYD2 and less Penguins of Madagascar, they should hopefully dig themselves out of their hole soon.

 

9. 22 Jump Street

 

Spoiler

 

And speaking of damn good sequels, why hello there 22 Jump Street.  Now this is a sequel that I can say I enjoyed as much as the original.  I lost count how many times I busted out laughing while watching this.  People can complain all they want about rehashing and the weird interactions between Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill.  But here’s the thing, they mocked the rehashing perfectly.  Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill also became parodies of themselves with how their careers have gone on route to action movies for Channing and Academy Award nominations for Jonah.  Their bromance is perfect and they play off each other so well.  Just a great comedy that hasn’t lost it’s luster for me.

 

8. Nightcrawler

 

Spoiler

 

While choosing all the films that appear on my list, some of them will be prone to drop if I revisit this list a few years down the line.  But out of all my choices, I feel like the film that has a chance to make it’s way higher when revisited, would be this one.  I’m still fascinated by how well done this movie was that I’m shocked to see it not get any awards recognition from the Academy.  This is the best Jake Gyllenhall movie I’ve ever seen with him putting on what I consider to be his best performance.  This is such a classic thriller in a modern world setting.  I honestly can’t wait to watch this again soon because this movie just leaves that large of an impression on me.

 

7. Edge of Tomorrow

 

Spoiler

 

I know I always post the trailers whenever I do these lists and I know not all of you watch them….but do me a favor and watch at least the first fifteen seconds.  That honestly summarizes this movie in a nutshell.  It’s such an obscure premise for a science fiction film that it shouldn’t work.  But just wow…it does and it does so excellently.  We need more original science fiction films like this one.  Every moment of this movie had me on the edge of my seats and I seriously hope this becomes one of the cult classics of this past decade in this genre because we need less stupid original sci-fi films like Transcendence and more perfectly crafted ones like Edge of Tomorrow.  Great work from everyone involved and I’m so glad Tom Cruise’s career is still producing great action movies the older he gets.

 

6. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

 

Spoiler

 

Part 1 of 2 for my annual love letter to Marvel movies.  I mean can you blame me?  The Marvel Cinemaverse is one of the main things that still keeps my high volume of interest in movies even during down cinema years like this one.  Now I’ve already mentioned a couple sequels on my list this year and how they were just as good or not as good as the original.  This sequel blew the original Captain America out of the water and I actually didn’t think the original was that bad.  The original was actually quite good.  This sequel strayed far from the original by making this a modern day espionage thriller.  This kept me on the edge of my seat every time I watched it and there were actual instances that I thought Captain America could have possibly died.  Like I legit started to wonder if they would replace him in The Avengers.  Oh and of course, Scarlett Johnson was as hot as always and Sebastian Stan played a damn perfect Winter Soldier.

 

5. The Grand Budapest Hotel

 

Spoiler

 

Who would have thought that a Wes Anderson film is being considered one of the best of the year by more than just his growing fanbase.  I’ll admit, it’s been awhile that I can say that I loved a Wes Anderson movie.  Probably since Fantastic Mr. Fox which was five years ago…holy shit.  Moonrise Kingdom was good, but I felt like it was missing something to make it great.  This movie here though.  I  thought this was very witty and extremely well directed.  The acting was top notch as well because Wes Anderson just knows how to pull the best out of anyone he works with.  Hell he managed to get Jeff Goldblum of all people to knock it out of the park.  Wes Anderson is one of the best directors working today and academy recognition for his greatness is long overdue. I honestly wouldn’t mind seeing him win Best Director if his name gets called in a few weeks.

 

4. Birdman

 

Spoiler

Michael Keaton is back baby….ok well he never left.  But I haven’t seen him this on in years.  While Birdman can say what it wants about it being a piece about any actor’s struggle to remain relevant….it’s about Michael fucking Keaton.  Birdman is Batman and it’s about a huge blockbuster from 20 years ago…aka fucking Batman. I know I haven’t seen Michael Keaton in anything notable in years, have any of you?  This is Michael Keaton’s best acting performance I’ve seen from him.  Period.  This movie is dysfunctional as hell, but I mean that in the best way possible.  Everyone involved with this did a fantastic job and I can definitely see why this is the favorite to win the big awards this year in the prestige film categories.  I loved this and I think some of you avid movie goers on the forums will love this just as much for it’s quirkiness.

 

3. Guardians of the Galaxy

 

Spoiler

 

This blew me away.  It was The Avengers Lite and it was almost as entertaining as the former.  When I look back at Phase 2, it will be hard pressed to find a movie as good as Guardians of the Galaxy was.  Just everything about this reminded me how fun the Marvel Universe and how deep it is that we can have a franchise that was not as well known elaborated this efficiently into Marvel’s grand plans for it’s cinematic universe.  I can’t wait for Marvel’s next offerings for us in 2015 because these guys are on a hot streak that ceases to amaze me with their films.

 

2. The Imitation Game

 

Spoiler

 

I’m counting this on my list despite me seeing it for the first time a few weeks ago.  While I’m nearly halfway through my quest to see all the best picture nominees this year, this is by far the front runner in my mind to win the award.  Everything about this movie was fantastic.  It was a mixture of drama and spy thriller combined into the perfect historical period movie.  It was compelling and I was emotionally invested from beginning to end.  Good directing, a wonderful screenplay, and great acting with Benedict Cumberbatch putting on the best performance of his career.  I’ve been a fan of his for years and I was sold every minute he was on screen.  Can’t wait to watch this again soon and I’ll be rooting for it to take home the grand prize.

 

Now what could take the top spot on my list with me schilling the hell out of one of the best picture nominees to my readers?  Well I’ve got three words for you:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StTqXEQ2l-Y

 

1. The LEGO Movie

 

Spoiler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ_JOBCLF-I

 

I knew it was going to be hard to top this movie for my favorite film the moment I saw it.  I haven’t had that much fun watching an animated movie in years.  Plus this was the only movie I saw in theaters twice this year.  That’s really saying something about it’s replay value when I consider this to be one of the weakest film crops in years.  Not a single moment goes by in this movie that doesn’t continue to wow me.  Was this perfect?  Not really.  That one scene where Emmett moves in the real world is still flawed, but even that scene doesn’t deride from the fact that this movie is fantastic.  I’m still shocked that this isn’t even nominated for Best Animated Feature.  Nothing else bugs me more with the Oscar nominations this year and that’s how passionate I am about The Lego Movie.  I honestly can’t wait to see more lego films in the future as long as they are made with as much passion and greatness this one was.  My best picture of the year folks.  Even when I’m not fond of film years like 2014, the great movies still shine bright like so.

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Metal Snake

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I saw four of those movies, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and The Lego Movie. I would've given more love to HtTYD 2 and less laud to GotG, but eh, that's just me.

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Clappy

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Oh man, I loved Boyhood. I know it has its problems and everything, but damn did it hit me hard.

I did enjoy the nostalgia factor and how the movie was filmed.  Plus watching his growing pains and relating to them was something that I definitely felt.  It's on my honorable mentions list for those reasons alone.  But man, the problems with this film really did irritate me because if those simple problems were fixed, it could have easily topped this list.

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