Happy New Year: 2016 Review!

Greetings, it is the last day of the year once more and in accordance with tradition I am going to briefly review my favourite pieces of various entertainment media that I experienced or reviewed this year. In future, I intended to combine the New Year’s Eve and the Christmas Eve blog updates as part of my plans to produce less blog content. As always, the category winners did not necessarily have to be released this year but I will have had to have read it, watched it or played it in the last 12 months. In fact only one of the winners was released in 2016.

Television Show of the Year: Stranger Things

Series two of Fargo, an exciting prequel to the first season, narrowly lost to Netflix’s megahit Stranger Things. The story mainly follows a group of four friends growing up in a small American town called Hawkins during the 1980s. The group become entangled in supernatural events when one of the boys, named Will Byers, is attacked by a monster on his journey home alone. When it becomes apparent that Will is missing, the three remaining children search for their absent friend but encounter a strange and often silent girl where Will had vanished. It is soon revealed to the audience that the girl named El, an abbreviated form of eleven, has psychokinetic powers and claims to know of Will’s location. Due to the phenomenal success of the first series, a second season is already in development.

Game of the Year: Red Dead Redemption

Red Dead Redemption is a 2010 video game from Rockstar. It is a sequel to 2004’s Red Dead Revolver and a new instalment to the Red Dead series was announced in October of this year. The plot is centred on the flawed and charismatic protagonist John Marston, a former outlaw, who is attempting to capture his old criminal allies in the twilight era of the Wild West. He is motivated to track down his targets as the Federal Bureau of Investigations is holding Marston’s family as hostages until he completes his mission. There is also a very glitch filled but highly entertaining DLC entitled Undead Nightmare in which the American Frontier is infected by a zombie plague and John Marston must fight his way through the undead hordes.

Book of the Year: The Godfather

Published in 1969 and written by Italian-American novelist Mario Puzo, the Godfather is an iconic book about the Corleone Family. The material would later be adapted into a film, regarded as a cinematic masterpiece, and would spawn two sequel movies. While there are several interconnected plot lines, the story heavily revolves around Michael Corleone’s rise and ascension to the top of the criminal syndicate as the heir of the patriarch Vito. The plot begins to pick up speed after Don Vito is nearly assassinated due to his refusal to enter a narcotics based deal with another gangster. This attempted execution leads to a change in the Corleone leadership, at least temporarily, and commences Michael’s vengeful plans on the assailants.

Film of the Year: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

2015 saw Star Wars return to cinematic screens and was eagerly anticipated by moviegoers, especially diehard fans of the franchise, after the divisive prequel trilogy was released over 10 years ago. The Force Awakens provided a chance for the aging cast from the original trilogy to hand over the lead roles of the latest movie trilogy to the new comers in order to continue the Star Wars legacy. Unfortunately, the original main cast has become smaller with the loss of Kenny Baker and Carrie Fisher in 2016 alongside more minor actors in the series such as Erik Bauserfeld. I am aware that Fisher will be in Episode VIII as she had managed to finish her scenes before her passing away. The film is set long after the fall of the Galactic Empire in which the remnants of the imperial power, a movement known as the First Order begins to start a new conflict against the Resistance.

These four brief reviews are the last entry of the year but my blog will return in 2017 with a review of the latest Star Wars instalment Rogue One. What where you favourite pieces of media in 2016? I wish you a happy New Year’s Eve and a great 2017!

Quote of the Day

You know, no matter how much we fought, I've always hated watching you leave.

Princess Leia Organa

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens