Random Favorites

  The title is self-explanatory, so let’s just jump in:

MUSIC ARTIST: Red Hot Chili Peppers

LIVE ALBUM: Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York

ELECTRIC LIVE ALBUM: Kiss - Alive!

ACOUSTIC ALBUM: Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York

ACOUSTIC STUDIO ALBUM: Alice in Chains - Jar of Flies

PSYCHEDELIC/BLUES ARTIST: Jimi Hendrix

PSYCHEDELIC/BLUES ALBUM: Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced? (US Version)

PSYCHEDELIC/BLUES SONG: Jimi Hendrix - “Little Wing”

PROG ARTIST: Pink Floyd

PROG ALBUM: Pink Floyd - The Wall

PROG SONG: Pink Floyd - “Wish You Were Here”

RAP/HIP-HOP ARTIST: Outkast

RAP/HIP-HOP ALBUM: Outkast - Aquemini

RAP/HIP-HOP SONG: Outkast - “Rosa Parks”

RAPPER: Andre 3000

GARAGE ARTIST: The White Stripes

GARAGE ALBUM: The White Stripes - Elephant

GARAGE SONG: The White Stripes - “Fell in Love with a Girl”

SHOEGAZE ARTIST: My Bloody Valentine

SHOEGAZE ALBUM: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

SHOEGAZE SONG: My Bloody Valentine - “Loomer”

THRASH ARTIST: Metallica

THRASH ALBUM: Metallica - Ride the Lightning

THRASH SONG: Metallica - “Ride the Lightning”

POP/R&B/SOUL ARTIST: Michael Jackson

POP/R&B/SOUL ALBUM: Michael Jackson - Thriller

POP/R&B/SOUL SONG: Michael Jackson - “Thriller”

NU-METAL ARTIST: Linkin Park

NU-METAL ALBUM: Linkin Park - Meteora

NU-METAL SONG: Slipknot - “The Heretic Anthem”

BRITPOP ARTIST: Oasis

BRITPOP ALBUM: Oasis - (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?

BRITPOP SONG: Oasis - “Champagne Supernova”

NY ARTIST: Kiss

NY ALBUM: Kiss - Hotter than Hell

NY SONG: Kiss - “I Stole Your Love”

BOSTON ARTIST: Aerosmith

BOSTON ALBUM: Aerosmith - Rocks

BOSTON SONG: Aerosmith - “Rats in the Cellar”

CHICAGO ARTIST: The Smashing Pumpkins

CHICAGO ALBUM: The Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream

CHICAGO SONG: The Smashing Pumpkins - “Mayonaise”

STONER ARTIST: Tool

STONER ALBUM: Tool - Undertow

STONER SONG: Tool - “The Pot”

DESERT ARTIST: Queens of the Stone Age

DESERT ALBUM: Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf

DESERT SONG: Queens of the Stone Age - “You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar (But I Feel Like a Millionaire)”

NEW WAVE/SYNTHPOP ARTIST: Depeche Mode

NEW WAVE/SYNTHPOP ALBUM: Depeche Mode - Violator

NEW WAVE/SYNTHPOP SONG: Dead or Alive - “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”

BRITISH INVASION/POP ROCK ARTIST: The Beatles

BRITISH INVASION/POP ROCK ALBUM: The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour (US Version)

BRITISH INVASION/POP ROCK SONG: The Rolling Stones - “Gimme Shelter”

GROOVE METAL ARTIST: Pantera

GROOVE METAL ALBUM: Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power

GROOVE METAL SONG: Pantera - “Cemetery Gates”

NOISE ROCK/SHOCK ROCK ARTIST: White Zombie

NOISE ROCK/SHOCK ROCK ALBUM: White Zombie - Astro-Creep: 2000

NOISE ROCK/ SHOCK ROCK SONG: White Zombie - “More Human than Human”

INDUSTRIAL ARTIST: Nine Inch Nails

INDUSTRIAL ALBUM: Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral

INDUSTRIAL SONG: Nine Inch Nails - “Head Like a Hole”

BLACK METAL ARTIST: Mayhem

BLACK METAL ALBUM: Mayhem - Live in Leipzig

BLACK METAL SONG: Mayhem - “Carnage”

UK ARTIST: Led Zeppelin

UK ALBUM: Oasis - (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?

UK SONG: The Rolling Stones - “Gimme Shelter”

CANADA ARTIST: Rush

CANADA ALBUM: Rush - Moving Pictures

CANADA SONG: Rush - “Limelight”

COEN BROTHERS FILM: No Country for Old Men

MARTIN SCORSESE FILM: Goodfellas

LEONARDO DICAPRIO FILM: Inception

MATT DAMON FILM: The Bourne Identity

TV CHANNEL: Food Network

FOOD: Peanut butter

FRUIT: Banana

DRINK: Tea

ANIMATED FILM: Toy Story 2

2D ANIMATED FILM: The Iron Giant

VIDEOGAME: Tetris

NARRATIVE VIDEOGAME: The Legend of Zelda - The Wind Waker

COMBAT VIDEOGAME: Super Smash Bros. Melee

CARD GAME: Solitaire

FILMMAKER: Steven Spielberg

UK FILMMAKER: Alfred Hitchcock

ROMCOM FILMMAKER: Richard Curtis

SCI-FI FILMMAKER: George Lucas

WRITER: Philip K. Dick

POET: Charles Bukowski

POEM: “So You Want to Be a Writer?” by Charles Bukowski

ACTOR: Marlon Brando

ACTING PERFORMANCE: Marlon Brando in The Godfather

STORE: Barnes & Noble

GROCERY STORE: Trader Joe’s

COLOR: Brown

STAND-UP COMEDIAN: Norm McDonald

PLAY: Hamilton

ALL-TIME ALBUM COVER: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here

60’s ALBUM COVER: Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced? (US Version)

80’s ALBUM COVER: Metallica - Master of Puppets

90’s ALBUM COVER: Faith No More - Angel Dust

00’s ALBUM COVER: Red Hot Chili Peppers - By the Way

10’s ALBUM COVER: Jack White - Blunderbuss

20’s ALBUM COVER: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Unlimited Love

Peace!

Related: List Repository

The Different "Ages" of Blockbusters

  Recently I was revisiting all of my different movie lists (making little tweaks here and there and whatnot), and while doing so, I stumbled upon an interesting epiphany:

When Star Wars was first released in 1977, it basically invented the blockbuster genre, paving the way for a 1980’s movie landscape filled “larger than life” films along the lines of E.T., Blade Runner, Alien and Aliens, Legend, The Terminator, and so on. This was a stark contrast to the decade before, as the 1970’s was mostly known for “down to earth” films such as The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, Network, American Grafitti, etc. I suppose the 1960’s could be seen as a sort of “proto” age for blockbusters, considering how James Bond and westerns practically dominated that decade. This itself was probably a response to the 1950’s being rather “dark” (Rear Window, On the Waterfront, Twelve Angry Men, etc.).

The 1990’s saw another pendulum swing back towards “darker, counter-culture” stuff, such as Pulp Fiction, Clerks, El Mariachi, The Shawshank Redemption, Fight Club, and so on. This led to a swing back towards “bright” stuff in the 2000’s, but rather than a return to blockbusters, this decade was more-so dominated by an influx of comedies (be it rom-coms, parodies, etc.). Don’t get me wrong, I know this is also the decade that brought us The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Spider-Man, X-Men, and the Star Wars prequels. But outside of Potter, the rest of those franchises only carried a few films each, and therefore don’t really represent what the movie landscape as a whole felt like in the 2000’s…

But then we get to the 2010’s, and here, we finally see a return to something more along the lines of what the 1980’s seem to have felt like (I say “seem” cause I wasn’t born in the 80’s yet, to be fair, so I can only go off of historical reflection). The MCU, the DCEU, and Disney’s rebooted Star Wars franchise were all in full-swing, by this point, but Marvel and Star Wars both reached culminations in 2019, while the DCEU eventually fizzled out altogether. This brings us now to the 2020’s, where a pandemic, two strikes, and a sudden influx of streaming services have basically left the theater-going industry in shambles…

So, to recap: I basically consider the 1980’s to be “the golden age of blockbusters,” and the 2010’s to be “the silver age.” But now here’s the question: Will we ever have a “bronze age” too? We’re now exactly halfway through the 2020’s. The first half of this decade was mostly a shitshow, but the second half could go either way. Star Wars is apparently gonna try putting out movies more frequently from now on, as is James Cameron’s Avatar. On similar notes, James Gunn will be launching his new version of the DC universe soon, and Marvel is starting to pivot towards some crazy “Tony Stark as Doctor Doom” thing. Both Marvel and Star Wars are also starting to produce less shows, so that they can focus their resources towards movies again. Here’s the thing, though: Even if all this stuff happens, that doesn’t mean any of it will be good. The second half of this decade could end up being known as the “dark age” of blockbusters, rather than the “bronze age.”

Either way, it’ll be interesting to see how all this shit unfolds, so I figured I might as well blog about it for a bit, is all!

Peace!

UPDATE: I know Jaws technically was the first blockbuster, but it didn’t have the “larger than life spectacle” feel that Star Wars and others like it would go on to have. Jaws is still a great movie too, though!

UPDATE 2: Even though the 2020’s have been mostly a shit show for blockbusters so far, there have still been some all-time great ones that have come out this decade. Just felt the need to clarify that, is all…

Sequels Better Than the First

  When you hear people talk about “the best movie sequels of all time,” chances are they’re probably talking about one of these (in no particular order):

Aliens, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, The Godfather Part II, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, The Dark Knight, Batman Returns, Inside Out 2, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Superman II, X2, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Dune: Part Two, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

But while I agree that the above are all great movies, I wouldn’t necessarily say they’re “better than the first one.” That said, the other day I stumbled upon a Reddit thread asking exactly that (“What sequel films are better than the first?”). Seeing this thread led me to making my own list of installments that I actually think fit this criteria. And just to make things more interesting, I thought it’d be fun to break this list out by decade (and arrange the films within each decade in order of release). And mind you, I’m not saying any of the movies below are better than the ones listed above. All I’m saying that the ones you’re about to see are better than the movies that kicked off their respective franchises. For instance, Shrek 2 is better than Shrek, but neither of them are better than Aliens, and Aliens itself is not better than Alien. You get it?

…Well anyway, here you go:

1960’s and onward

A bunch of James Bond films (not even gonna bother trying to list them)

1980’s

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

1990’s

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Patriot Games

Star Trek: First Contact (as a sequel to Star Trek: Generations)

Clear and Present Danger

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls

Desperado

Toy Story 2

2000’s

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (any version, as a sequel to Star Wars: The Phantom Menace)

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (either version)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (either version)

Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

Shrek 2

Spider-Man 2 (either version)

Mission: Impossible III

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

2010’s

Toy Story 3

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

The Wolverine (either version, as a sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine)

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

X-Men: Days of Future Past (either version)

22 Jump Street

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Mad Max: Fury Road (either version, as a distant sequel to Mad Max 1979)

Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (any version, as a sequel to Man of Steel)

Captain America: Civil War

John Wick: Chapter 2

Logan (either version, as a threequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine)

War for the Planet of the Apes

Thor: Ragnarok

Justice League (any version, as a threequel to Man of Steel)

Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Score-Only Version (as a sequel to Star Wars: The Force Awakens)

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

Avengers: Infinity War

Deadpool 2 (any version)

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Spider-Man: Far From Home (as a sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming)

2020’s

The Suicide Squad (as a sequel to Suicide Squad)

Spider-Man: No Way Home (either version, as a threequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming)

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Top Gun: Maverick

Avatar: The Way of Water

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (as a distant sequel to Mad Max 1979)

So as you can see, aside from James Bond, all of the decades before the 2010’s only have a handful of sequels that I consider to be genuinely better than their first installment counterparts. I guess this makes sense though, when you really think about it. After all, franchises as we now know them didn’t really become a thing until rather recently. In fact, I’m pretty sure the term “cinematic universe” didn’t even exist until Marvel kicked off their own, which didn’t happen until 2008… For what it’s worth, though, I don’t think we will ever have a decade like the 2010’s ever again (for better or worse).

Something else to consider here is that a lot of the films that made this list were only able to do so because they were following-up mediocre first installments anyways, whereas the more highly-regarded sequels mentioned at the very top of this post are clearly better films, because they already had greatness to build on top of, even if they didn’t completely match said greatness…

Well, that was fun! I haven’t made a pointless list in awhile anyways…

Peace!

UPDATE: Just so it’s clear, I didn’t include the Star Trek film from 2009 cause I consider that one to be a reboot, rather than a sequel.

Related: List Repository