End Game Analysis

What an experience Endgame was.  After over twenty movies, the sequel to Infinity War has finally wrapped up everything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe- or at least wrapped up this part of it.  The MCU will probably continue until we're wiped out by self-aware sex robots, but this phase brings to a close both the overarching threat of Thanos/the Infinity Stones and the character arcs of many of the founding Avengers.  That's a tall order, but it does so with a level of spectacle and entertainment that deserves respect.

And yet, I have no idea how I feel about the movie as a whole.

I supposed I should say that I felt entertained throughout most of it, and on occasion even felt some emotion.  Endgame is well-made in a lot of ways.  Yet, at the same time, the film covers so many different characters and tries to close so many arcs that the whole thing isn't exactly a coherent, unified vision where everything works.  The best made ensemble movies, such as Seven Samurai, manage to give each character adequate attention while also connecting everything to the main plot and theme(s) of the movie.  Endgame, with half a dozen times as many characters as those movies, doesn't have that luxury.

Because of that, it felt like there were too many moving pieces for me to call this entire movie great or bad or decent or disappointing or whatever else.  I don't know how to think of it as a whole.  So, instead of trying to force some grand analysis of Endgame, I will instead go into what did and didn't work for me.  There's plenty of each.

Of course, THIS MEANS THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.  Enjoy!

WHAT I LIKED

Scott Lang Waking Up

Maybe the real Paul Rudd has a quantum universe he hides in to prevent aging?

I felt mixed about the beginning of the 'five years later' part of Endgame.  You hear in passing that the loss of so many people ruined society, but you don't see it.  There's a sense of mourning in the air, but the consequences of the loss itself is not fully dramatized on screen.  The one scene we get is Captain America leading one support group meeting, and it's a good scene, but we never get a sense of how long Evans has been doing this or how it came about, or even if part of why he's leading the support group is because so many therapists and counselors got snapped away.  After this scene, the support group is never brought up again.

This is an odd way to bring up a sequence I like, but I mention my issue with the beginning because Scott Lang returning to the normal world does a great job of addressing the loss that I think the rest of the beginning of the movie could've done better.  Naturally, the sudden absence of 50% of life everywhere means that society would face a massive crisis- when doctors, farmers, teachers, firefighters, trade workers, social workers, sanitation workers, etc disappear, that's not something you recover from quickly.  The remaining 50% of people would face a collapse brought about by the sudden absence of so many people who do their part to help keep society running.

That's why I like this sequence.  Lang running through that abandoned San Francisco neighborhood, in which we only see a teenager on a bike left, shows a serious consequence of what such a mass loss of life would actually do to a city.  Then, when he eventually finds a memorial for some of the disintegrated, we see these monuments have countless mourners somberly remembering their loved ones.  It's been five years, but the gap left by the deceased is still there.  Lang desperately looks for his daughter's name, hoping with all his heart she isn't on the list, and because of Rudd's sincerity, I'm hoping she's still alive just as fiercely as he is.

Then we have the reunion.  What's so well-done is that the scene takes its time.  Scott and his daughter recognize each other, but it still takes her a moment to truly accept that's her dad standing at the door.  Meanwhile, you can see in Lang's eyes an indescribable joy at seeing his daughter, but also a shadow of melancholy for having missed an entire five years of her life.

This plot thread is great because it does exactly what this part of the movie should do.  It really looks at the weight of the destruction caused by the Thanos snap, and it does so without the sometimes irritating MCU need to almost always undercut a dramatic moment with jokes.

Revisiting Classic Moments

Actual photographed meeting of Disney executives for this portion of the movie.

The elevator scene from Winter Soldier.  The beginning of the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie.  The classic "Avengers assemble" moment from the first team movie.  The MCU is full of some truly iconic moments that will stay in the popular imagination for a long time.  In revisiting these scenes, the Russo Brothers made a move best described as... not "bold" per se, because milking nostalgia for all its worth is hardly a daring formula, but  ambitious.  The movie going back through these moments could have come off as cringy, but they did a good job of adding something interesting enough to most of these scenes that they didn't feel to me like fan service only for the sake of fan service.

Let's look at the elevator scene for example, perhaps the most celebrated moment from Winter Soldier.  Captain America and his all-American ass get onto the same elevator with the same people he fought before.  It's tense.  I honestly expected a remix of the first fight scene, which would've been a pretty transparently empty attempt to repeat that beloved moment just for the sake of repeating it.  Then Steve "America's Ass" Rogers whispers "heil HYDRA", which not only subverts the expectations of the scene, but shows how much he has changed.  The old, more innocent Captain Dummy-Thicc would've never thought to use such a tactic.

All of these revisited moments bring something similar to the table.  Professor Hulk trying to blend into the battle of New York by "smashing" things nearby fails hilariously, as Banner has now found an inner peace that makes him feels no need to lash out with destruction.  After years of treating the Hulk like a curse, he finally found a way to embrace his gift, which was really a part of himself the whole time.  These scenes are still shameless fan-service, but they're shameless fan service that are justified with interesting twists that allow us to see how far the characters have come in clever, entertaining ways.

Two of my favorite moments from the time travel to the past, however, had nothing to do with revisiting classic scenes.

Parental Reunions

I'm just glad they found a way to make The Dark World relevant.

A lot of online movie buffs have talked about how a recurring theme in the MCU is daddy issues.  Thor, Black Panther, and Star Lord all have them.  Perhaps none have been covered more throughout the MCU than Iron Man's, however.  In the early movies, Iron Man recalls how distant and uncaring his father seemed.  Yet there had always been some ambiguity, as well.  Toward the end of Iron Man 2, Stark discovers his father's secret plans for the future, revealing his dad had a lot of hope for his son despite their issues.  In Civil War he recalls the last time he saw his parents before they left, then turns on Captain America and Bucky when he finds out the latter killed them.

Things change after that for Tony, however.  He becomes a surrogate father to Peter Parker in the first MCU Spiderman movie, then a biological father in this movie.  In the former he jokes that he's become like his father; in the latter, it's confirmed.  He values his daughter more than anything and wants to be there for her, yet duty calls.  Just like his father, he cannot put the good of the world aside for his own happiness.  So, when this scene finally comes, Stark talks to his dad with a profound understanding of the greater good vs personal happiness question that is at the heart of every good superhero movie.  It's a wonderful moment that brings Stark's relationship with both his father and himself full-circle.

My other favorite parental moment is, of course, Thor's reunion with his mother.  Thor has had quite the character journey throughout the MCU movies.  Even after the events of the first Thor movie got him to think about more than himself and his lust for battle, he always had a confident bravado to him.  It makes sense- he is the strongest Avenger next to Hulk and Captain Marvel, and never experienced a hard personal failure the way other heroes in the MCU had.  He loses his parents in Dark World and Ragnorak, but both are outside of his control; his mom dies when he isn't around while his dad basically dies of old age.  But in Infinity War he is powerless to stop the loss of half of his people, including his brother Loki and friend Heimdall.  Then, after immense pain brought about by all he has lost, he finally gains Stormbreaker and defeats Thanos.

Yet, due to Thor's need to gloat in the moment of victory, Thanos still manages to snap his fingers.

That would mess anyone up.  There's a reason Thor is the most sullen Avenger at the very start of the film, and why the beheading of Thanos brings him no joy.  There's a reason why he's retreated from the world after the weight of his failure and grief come crashing down on him after revenge brings him nothing.  He is completely lost.  His mother recognizes that, and gives him the support and guidance only a loving parent can.  It helps snap Thor out of his funk, restoring his warrior spirit and allowing him to fight Thanos in the biggest rematch since Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz 2.

Captain America Wielding Thor's Hammer

FUCK. YES.

I don't have anything thoughtful to say, this moment was just fucking awesome.

The End of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers

Feeling cute rn, might give a satisfying end to the journey of MCU's two biggest characters idk~

I remember at the end of Infinity War how surprised I was at the fact they actually had Thanos win.  When Bucky evaporated, my jaw actually dropped.  The grim, somber silence was the perfect choice for letting the scene unfold.  A couple supporting characters popped and I felt a deep sense of surprise, despair, and grief for all those we were losing.  Then Black Panther disappeared, and I thought to myself "aren't there already rumors of a second Black Panther movie in the works?  Hmm, maybe his sister will take over!"  Then more and more prominent characters disappeared, and I realized that this is a fucking comic book series that could never let something like this stand.

I was conflicted.  I loved Infinity War, and thought the ending was a bold choice even with the certainty everyone would come back.  But the MCU in general has a problem with real consequences.  Heroes almost always get their cake and eat it too, with ideas of "sacrifice" often being given lip service without actually happening in the plot.  Even when there are the occasional consequences, such as the loss of Quicksilver in Age of Ultron, the losses never come up again (I actually forgot he existed until Googling images for this article).  I worried this movie would find a fun, light-hearted way to undo the snap that would only change things on the surface.

I think in some ways that did happen, but it certainly didn't with the conclusion of Iron Man and Captain America's arcs.  Perhaps the two most important MCU characters up to this point, each could be argued to be the foundation of the MCU Avengers team.  Iron Man was the first superhero of the modern day in the MCU and was the first to help SHIELD with the Avengers Initiative, while Captain America was chronologically the first superhero and had a strong moral core that inspired others long after he became frozen in the ice.  Despite their butting of heads, their leadership and heroism formed the basis of the MCU Avengers as we know them.

That's why I loved seeing them each get a great send off.  I was devastated Tony died.  But, in a movie series where examples of bad fathers come up so often, culminating in big-bad Thanos adopting Gamora & Nebula and naming his followers Children of Thanos, it made sense that Tony, both the father of the Avengers team and a literal father, would counter Thanos's example of fatherhood with his own empathetic, self-sacrificing version.

"We don't trade lives" is the perfect quote to sum up the Avengers philosophy, and it's no coincidence that Captain America is the one to say it in the previous movie.  As already stated, he is the moral core of the team.  Like Stark, Rogers has done nothing but give and give, at immense cost to himself.  Perhaps no Avenger had consciously chosen to give up more to do what's right before the end of this movie.  With Thanos out of the way and no detectable threat left to the universe, it was wonderful to see Rogers get the life he so richly deserved.  It was also nice to see him pass off the shield to Sam Wilson.

Thanks for the great memories, fellas.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE

Comically Depressed Thor

"Thanos is evil? That's just, like, your opinion, man."

I dealt with a lot growing up.  Fortunately, my coping mechanism didn't involve me repeating past family demons like substance abuse, but I did become both a people-pleaser and a class clown.  The thing that people don't get about class clowns is that we often feel like we have to keep entertaining people, because if we are sincerely ourselves no one will like us.  For me, that meant until about my early to mid-twenties I couldn't be vulnerable, and if I started to become sincere, I had to find moments to undercut that sincerity with humor.

Now, I think humor in moderation can be incredibly helpful as a coping mechanism.  Realizing over the past few years how much I used humor to sometimes cope in unhealthy ways doesn't mean I've avoided comedy/jokes by any means.  Everyone needs to laugh and be silly sometimes, and humor during times of crisis can be a life-saver.  At the same time, however, we shouldn't use it as a shield to avoid vulnerability or reckoning with our traumas.

All of this is to say that I felt post-time skip Thor's pain was used far more as a joke than it should've been.  To be clear, I'm not saying Thor's scenes should've only been serious, melancholy explorations of all the grief and guilt he carried with him.  This is a comic book movie meant for entertainment.  At the same time, though, it seemed like almost every line and every action from Thor up until he sees his mom was meant to evoke laughs.  On top of that, during the few moments where we got a glimpse of what was underneath, there would be an immediate goofy follow up right after that made sure the vulnerability wouldn't stay.

I felt intensely embarrassed for Thor throughout the movie.  Not because there's anything embarrassing about being fat or depressed, but because the film treats this stuff as a punchline.  I would've loved to have seen a more earnest exploration of his pain that didn't feel the need to constantly undercut any emotional depth with constant jokes, as if the filmmakers were trying to say "hey, we don't wanna be unhappy for even one full minute, here are some jokes to avoid emotional discomfort of any kind!"

I know I've said this twice already, but I really wanna emphasize that I'm not looking for Thor to be dark and brooding in this movie.  This isn't Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy.  But other superhero movies like Spiderman 2, X-Men First Class, and Wonder Woman show you can be sincere while still having a good time.  It would've been nice to see more of that for Thor in this movie.

Edgy Hawkeye

"I've changed, Natasha.  You can tell by my new haircut and the fact I use a sword now."

I thought the beginning scene of the movie was great, and I've never even found Hawkeye that interesting of a character.  It shows how devastating the snap was for him, and lets you imagine how many other people probably had their entire families except themselves snuffed out by the impartial roulette of who did and didn't die.  You can only imagine how much grief that causes him.  It makes sense that after such a traumatic event he might spiral downward in an ugly direction.

Later we hear from Black Widow that Hawkeye is killing people.  The Avengers don't wanna confront him, but it seems his killing isn't slowing down, and at some point they'll have to do something to stop him.  It makes for a good conflict.  His motivations are clearly understood- they're not justified (losing your entire family doesn't make most people mass muderers, even if the people you're killing are bad), but it makes sense.  They could've fleshed out his journey from grief-stricken to killer more, but in such a crowded movie, it makes sense to not prioritize it.

Then hope for getting everyone back is found, and Black Widow shows up to the scene of another Hawkeye killing spree and... sorta lightly chides him but otherwise just tells him about their plan.  It doesn't come up again in any significant way whatsoever until Black Widow and Hawkeye are battling for who gets to die on Vormir, with Hawkeye saying "I've done bad things!!1!11!!"  Which is true, but in the past Hawkeye and Black Widow have bonded over their dark, morally ambiguous past before.  You could remove everything about edgy-murder Hawkeye from the movie and the Vormir scene could've played out exactly the same.

This sequence should've either been more fleshed out or removed entirely.  In such a crowded movie, it may have been better to do the former, and just let the Avengers find him sad and forelorn like they do almost everyone else at the start of the movie.

But, going back to Vormir...

Death of Black Widow

 *insert that one GIF of that one guy saying "haha, this sucks man" here*

So, how about the fact that the place where the first female Guardian of the Galaxy died also became the place where the first female Avenger died?

I know the automatic response to this is "she wanted to atone for her past of violence and death!"  And, yeah, this is certainly one way for her to achieve that.  However, one thing you learn in a creative writing class is that killing a character to "redeem" them is the easy shortcut countless beginning writers will take.  There are many alternatives.  You only need to watch almost any anime ever made to see a villain's life get spared so that s/he may repent for what they've done and maybe even become a member of the team.

As a matter of fact, this is the approach Black Widow has taken at the beginning of the movie.  She's directing the team from the Avengers headquarters, making sure that even in the face of such grief and loss (not to mention disaster brought about by so many disappearances) that the Avengers continue doing what they can to help the world.  Seeing a woman who has helped save the world on the frontlines now transition to doing the same thing in a position of leadership was pretty cool.

It's a shame they have to do that, especially when Hawkeye, could've also sacrificed himself to protect the universe, further reinforcing the theme of fathers sacrificing themselves to create a better world for both their families and everyone else as a whole.  It could've helped make the movie feel slightly more cohesive by hinting at what Stark would do later.

But, this could've been more forgivable if the other prominent woman of Endgame were give more to work with...

Captain Marvel's Absence

"I'm here to kick ass and take names... in other parts of the galaxy, off-screen, unrelated to this movie."

I'd write a lot about Carol Danvers' role in Endgame, except there isn't much to write about.  In a movie where only two female Avengers are given a prominent role, it's a pretty bad look for one to die and another to disappear.  To be fair, if you count Nebula she had a decent role in the movie as she learns to further embrace her change to the good side, but that's just not enough in a movie where so many male characters get so much attention.

Valkyrie Becoming Queen

How is Tessa Thompson not in literally everything

Man, I love Valkyrie (and also Tessa Thompson in general).  She was my favorite part of Ragnorak next to Thor himself, not only for her badassery and drunken charm but because of the surprisingly substantive arc she had throughout the movie.  She goes from someone struggling with alcoholism to someone who faces her demons in order to help defend her forsaken people.  Seeing her become queen at the end of Endgame should've been an awesome moment.

And yet... it wasn't.

The problem is that this isn't something that has been built toward at all.  Her character arc in Ragnorak is her learning to face her fears and care again; it's good, but has nothing to do with leadership abilities.  She is then entirely absent from Infinity War (we aren't even told in the movie that she and half of the Asgardians survive).  Then, in Endgame, she first shows up to tell the Avengers that Thor is now depressed, then doesn't reappear until the giant battle scene toward the end.

I love the idea of Valkyrie being queen of Asgard (or the idea of Tessa Thompson being queen of Earth in real life), but this moment feels so hollow because in no way does any movie in the entire MCU canon build or even hint toward it at all.  Hell, even if Valkyrie had been shown in both Ragnorak and Endgame on the battlefield issuing orders and giving a quick inspiring speech at some point, we'd at least have something to go off of.  Or if during Infinity War there were a quick scene of her being the one to inspire the survivors who escaped Thanos after the scene of the movie.  Or even make it so that she is the one who convinces Thor to rejoin the Avengers in this movie.

But, no, we're given none of that.  We have nothing building toward this moment at all.  Thor could've given the crown to Krog and nothing about it would've changed.  I'm still excited to see Valkyrie be queen of Asgard, but the lack of set up leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Closing Thoughts

We've seen the last of at least two of the big three as superheros.

Whatever the shortcomings of this movie, it was an entertaining ride with a satisfying blend of charming character moments, big spectacle, and even some occasional strong emotional moments.  It's wild to think about what has happened in eleven years. I mostly only knew of Iron Man from all the references the rapper Ghostface Killah made to him, and I remember everyone (myself included) being skeptical that the first Avengers movie would work out or that the MCU would last much further past it.

The MCU has changed the cinematic landscape.  Movie snobs used to complain when movies got turned into a trilogy; now movies have interconnected cinematic universes.  Now movie series can go on indefinitely, as we've seen with franchises like the Fast & Furious movies and even DC's movies.  It'll be interesting to see what Hollywood can do with this new approach in the long run.  Perhaps directors who grew up on the MCU will be able to take all the strength of Marvel's movies and infuse them with their own strengths that'll make this current MCU chapter look rookie by comparison.

Regardless of how I felt about Endgame, these eleven years have given me some great memories.  For all the MCU's faults, they've created some damn good movies and even all-time great superhero movie moments ("briiing meee Thaaanooos!" is one of my all-time favorite moments of superhero spectacle, and the MCU is also filled with many intimate character moments that I love).  Here's hoping the future of the MCU brings just as many treasures.

Thanks for reading!

Top Everything of 2018

Welp, we've done it folks.  We've somehow made it another year.  I hope all of you had a good one, or at least a bearable one, and that 2019 is better for everyone. 

However hard 2018 may have been for each of us, there's always cool shit from even the roughest of years.  Many websites are now reflecting back on their favorite movies, or MMA fights, or scientific discoveries from last year.  A lot of those lists are gonna be worth checking out.  As for me, though, I find a lot of things cool and interesting.  It'd be impossible to choose just one topic, or even set of topics.  So, as usual, here are my top picks for everything from 2018. Enjoy!

MOVIE: Sorry to Bother You

I really don't wanna say too much here.  Just mentioning some of the themes and ideas present in this movie in detail might be giving away too much, even if I'm not specifically spoiling any plot points.  I'll just say this: this is one of the most creative, thoughtful, daring, sharp, unique films I've ever seen.  It flies off the rails a bit sometimes, but ultimately it's an incredible dark comedy that brilliantly takes on ideas of class and race in a way that'll make you wonder (in a good way) how this film ever got green-lit by any studio in the first place.

(Note: usually I specifically choose a favorite comedy in addition to a favorite overall movie, but since I chose a dark comedy as my overall fave, I'll be skipping out on designating a favorite comedy this year.)

ANIMATED MOVIE: Spider-man Into the Spider-verse

Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse follows Miles Morales, a young teenager who actually represents the diversity of New York City. One of the most noteworthy things about this movie is, despite how many characters and plot threads it balances- supporting characters, alternate versions of Spider-man, a convoluted story about merging realities are all part of this movie's juggling act- it still manages to keep Miles at the center.  Ultimately, this is his story about finding himself and rising to the occasion to save the world (or worlds, in this particular case).

That's a pretty standard character journey for a movie, of course, but as with most good stories, it's the execution that makes it truly special.  The first few minutes immediately give us a good sense of who Miles is: a social, likeable kid in the middle of a big time of change in his life.  He has a police officer as a father who wants to connect with him but has trouble doing so.  He looks up to his Uncle Aaron, who lives a life more on the margins but is more encouraging and less judgmental of Miles than his father.  He's also just plain cooler.

It's hard to go much further into what happens without giving too much away, but let's just say that there are many different versions of Spiderman, and these different versions come with different warnings for what Miles can expect.  Some have their lives far more figured out than others.  Miles spends the movie trying to figure out what kind of Spiderman, and what kind of person, he will be in the face of such a steep learning curve and serious threat.

The movie has an incredible balance of comedy and serious drama.  There's a certain gag involving the Noir Spiderman and a match that had me laughing to the point of tears, while other times I felt myself on the verge of tears due to surprisingly well-executed emotional moments.  Among those moments is perhaps the best Stan Lee cameo of all Marvel movies.  Though there are a couple times I feel the movie leaned a bit too much toward being a fun comic book movie at the expense of serious drama, overall the film makers reaches a great equilibrium between the two.

It's hard to say whether Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, or this movie was my favorite superhero movie of the year.  Each had their own strengths and weaknesses.  What I can say, though, is that this is the superhero character journey I cared about most this year, and I can't wait to see more of Miles Morales.

ACTOR: Michael B Jordan

For the first time since starting my "top everything" write-ups back in 2014, I've finally repeated a choice.  Michael B Jordan was my pick for my 2015 actor of the year, and here he is again.  I can only imagine he is reading this blogpost on a private jet somewhere, weeping tears of joy for the honor of being chosen twice on a small blog that will be read by no more than a couple hundred people.  Ahem.

In all seriousness, though, Jordan is exceptional actor and his two performances I've seen this year, both as protagonist (Creed II) and antagonist (Black Panther), show his abilities as an actor.  In the sequel to the incredible first Creed (which has only gotten better with age in my mind, and may now be my favorite movie of 2015 despite it not being my pick for that year's "top everything" post), this new entry finds Adonis Creed trying to rise to the challenge of fighting the son of the man who killed his father in Rocky IV.

There's a lot I could say about this movie, but to stay on the topic of Michael B Jordan's performance, what really blows me away is that I absolutely bought Adonis Creed's fear and inner conflict.  This is despite the fact that Rocky IV is so full of corn that it receives subsidies from the federal government.  The fact that Jordan is able to sell the drama from that movie as a genuine thing to be taken seriously is absolutely incredible.  While the movie suffers from a weaker script and lack of Ryan Coogler's more focused direction when compared to the first, Jordan absolutely makes the most of his role and (along with the supporting actors) helps elevate this movie beyond its so-so writing and directing.

Jordan's performance in Black Panther is similar in some ways, but different in others.  In both roles Jordan has clearly understandable, sympathetic motivations that he sells to us with utter sincerity.  In Black Panther, however, he is arguably more sympathetic.  His motivation isn't just personal, but ideological.  His belief that arming black people around the world to foment revolution is hard to argue with morally, even if it makes little sense in practical terms.  In the end he comes up short, but the fact that he forces T'Challa to actually reckon with Wakanda's isolation from the rest of the world means that his character did have an impact after all.

And, of course, there's the way Jordan delivers some of the most powerful last words in movie history.

ACTRESS: Tessa Thompson

Can we get Tessa Thompson a friggin' starring role in a major Hollywood picture already?

This year I've seen Thompson as wife/mother in Creed II, as a romantic partner to the main character in Sorry to Bother, and as a side character in Annihilation.  Together, these roles show her range as an actress: Creed has her reprise her role as a supportive significant other (and now parent) who nonetheless has her own dreams; Sorry to Bother You shows her as a fiery idealist who believes in her art but also struggles with its ability to effect change; Annihilation casts her as a quiet, solitary scientist with an odd tranquility about her.

In each role she does a great job with the material provided to her, and indeed, helps make each movie better.  Yet other than Sorry to Bother You, these roles are not given much prominence in the story.  She is technically the third or fourth most important character in Creed II, depending on how you rank the supporting characters, but she isn't given nearly as much of her own identity or agency as in Creed.  In Annihilation her character isn't based on her relationship to a man the way it is in the other two, but she is only of moderate importance among the team of female scientists in the movie.

Again, all of these movies are great, and none are individually guilty of anything bad.  But it's a shame that the industry as a whole doesn't often give excellent women of color like Tessa Thompson leading roles.  Thompson turned in some incredible performance in 2018.  Hopefully she gets the recognition she deserves and is given starring roles in huge Hollywood movies sooner than later.  I mean, who wouldn't love a spinoff Valkyrie movie for the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

TV SHOW: The Good Place

I usually don't mention TV shows on here because I don't watch much TV.  Not because I consider myself "above" TV (anyone who thinks that way needs to get over themselves), but because I get a weird sort of anxiety when it comes to committing to a show that has multiple seasons.  But holy moly, y'all, The Good Place is incredible, and everyone needs to see it.

The show takes place in a fictional afterlife.  Its protagonist is Eleanor Shellstrop, a selfish, rude, yet somehow likeable person who accidentally ends up in this neighborhood of "the Good Place" because she died at the exact same time and place as a much more saintly woman with the same name.  The shows follows as she tries to conceal her identity while also trying to become a better person with the help of her (or, rather, other Eleanor's) Good Place-appointed soulmate Chidi Anagonye, a philosophy professor with a specialty in ethics.  The cast is rounded out with a lot of talented up and coming actors, as well as Ted Danson as the angel in charge of this Good Place neighborhood.

There are two particular things that stand out about this show.  The first is that it muses on different philosophical concepts and problems in a truly special way: it fully delves into these ideas with the knowledge of an expert, but frames them in such easy to understand and funny ways that the show never gets boring or preachy.  The Good Place does for philosophy what someone like a Carl Sagan does for science, but with the added bonus of top-notch comedy.  It vividly shows that creator Michael Schur did extensive amounts of reading to prepare for the show, and his ability to make it hilarious and interesting really speaks to the talents of him and his writer's room.

The other thing The Good Place does incredibly well is avoid wheel-spinning. Film Crit Hulk has an in-depth explanation here, but the quick definition of wheel-spinning is what happens when a TV show stays mired in the same conflict/plot set up without ever going anywhere new or interesting.  Normally it's not something you think about when it comes to a sitcom.  Most sitcoms remain stationed in the same situation, minus an occasional major event like an old character leaving or a new one entering.  The Good Place, though, shows us that even a sitcom can benefit from constantly moving things forward.  I won't spoil anything, but let's just say that the first season doesn't end with the characters in the same situation they are at the beginning.  Hell, even halfway through the season the show's set up isn't the same.  That becomes only more true with the second and third seasons, the latter of which started this year.

Overall, this show is an excellent comedy with smart but accessible ideas, great wit, incredible pacing, and quality characterization.  For most things on here I say something like "if you like ___, then you should definitely check out ___!"  In this case, though, this is a show that anyone can enjoy; everyone should definitely check it out. 

MMA PROSPECT: Renato Moicano

This one is admittedly an odd choice.  Renato Moicano is, after all, ranked #4 in the UFC's featherweight division, he was scheduled as a backup fighter in case either Max Holloway or Brian Ortega had to pull out at UFC 231, and he's currently scheduled to fight Jose Aldo in early 2019.  He's less of a prospect and more of a top contender.

The reason I chose Moicano for this spot, though, is because despite his immense skill, he's not talked about nearly as much as he should be outside of hardcore MMA circles.  Because both Holloway and Ortega are young and immensely talented, it seems that there isn't room for another "immensely talented young featherweight" hype-train.  Add in the fact that Zabit Magomedsharipov is much flashier than Moicano and we have yet another name in that category that overshadows him.

It's a shame, because Moicano has a lot of striking fundamentals down to a tee.  His footwork in particular is excellent.  He does an incredible job with his lateral (that is, side to side) movement and always retreats in different directions, preventing his opponents from following him or cutting him off as he tries to escape.  I was surprised to find out jiujitsu is his specialty, because he moves precisely the way an MMA striker should.

He also has the best jab in the featherweight division, which is really saying something in a division that has fighters like Jose Aldo.  Offense-wise, his jab is the foundation for his entire game.  This is supposed to be the case for all fighters, and indeed it is to various degrees for most of them, but Moicano really takes extra care to always keep his opponent at the end of his jab, and only fires off follow-up attacks whenever that jab creates the opening.  Sometimes it leads to him chipping away at his opponent and gradually breaking them down with increasingly elaborate combos, like against Calvin Kattar.  Other times it helps him drop his opponent, like against Cub Swanson, where he was then able to bust out his jiujitsu and finish with a rear naked choke.

I also love that he occasionally goes for the takedown when his opponent least expects it.  This is something Alexander Gustafsson and a few other fighters who are primarily strikers do as well: use the threat of your strikes to land a takedown that the opponent doesn't expect.  We've seen it done countless times the other way around, where wrestlers land shots they would've never landed in a pure striking match because they know how to use the threat of the takedown to set up their shots.  It's nice to see strikers catching on to the fact that they can use the same principle in reverse.

MMA FIGHTER I'D LIKE TO SEE BOUNCE BACK:

Korean Zombie

Korean Zombie, real name Chan Sung Jung, is a hell of an entertaining fighter.  He earned his nickname early in his career for his ability to move forward no matter how much punishment he took as both a kickboxer and MMA fighter.  His reckless, entertaining, effective striking is also backed up by an entertaining, fast-paced grappling style that even the most casual of fans can appreciate.  Throughout his career he has earned fight of the night, submission of the night, or knockout of the night bonuses for every single UFC fight of his except for one.

Earlier in his career he was regarded as an entertaining mid-level fighter who could always please a crowd, but would never fight for a belt.  After beating Leonard Garcia with a 10th Planet submission called "the twister" that Jung said he learned by watching Eddie Bravo videos on Youtube, though, he went on to beat Mark Hominick, who had just challenged for the title himself, and Dustin Porier, who today is ranked #3 in the ultra-stacked lightweight division.  He was no longer just a fun fighter, but a serious contender.

He fought featherweight champion Jose Aldo in a decent but not great fight, thanks in part to Jung dislocating his shoulder early in the fight after an overhand right gone wrong.  This was the only fight he never won a performance bonus for.  Afterward he left the UFC to complete his two mandated years of service for the Korean military.  Many wondered if he would be the same upon his return.

He came back against Dennis Burmudez with a knockout that won him yet another performance bonus, quelling fears among many (including myself) that he would have serious ring rust.  He then faced a knee injury that kept him out of action until he fought Yair Rodriguez back in November of this year.  He actually looked great against Yair, having improved some of the technical aspects of his striking game, particular in using feints to draw strikes from his opponent that he could then counter, but he lost at the literal last second of the fight by an incredible upward elbow delivered by Yair.

Despite all this, Korean Zombie is only 31.  On top of that, while his two years in the Korean military means he has an experience gap compared to other fighters, it also means his body didn't take severe damage during that time, either.  Hopefully Jung can bounce back from his loss to Yair and return with the same entertaining zombie charm we all know and love.

MALE MMA FIGHTER: Daniel Cormier

The funny thing about this spot is that I had it between two fighters: Cormier and his training partner Khabib Nurmagomedov.  Pretty impressive for American Kickboxing Academy to produce two champions this year with such striking (pun totally intended [I know, I know, they're grappling specialists]) success.  After winning would could be debatably be called a sham title against Al Iaquinta, Khabib earned the championship unambiguously against Conor McGregor, the most popular MMA fighter of all time.  Khabib definitely had a great 2018.

But to defend one title, earn another title, and defend that new title all in the same year?

And these were not easy fights, either.  Volkan Oezdemir was, at the time, unquestionable the best light heavyweight outside of the Jones/Cormier/Gustafsson triangle.  His striking for MMA is excellent, and he's adapted grappling at a pretty impressive pace for a striker.  Cormier's next victory against Stipe was even more impressive.  Stipe, after all, is the UFC heavyweight champion with the most ever title defenses, and is right up there with Cain Velasquez in how well-rounded his game is.  Those victories alone would be enough to put him in contention for fighter of the year, but beating someone as dangerous as Derek "My Balls Was Hot" Lewis is the cherry on top that cemented this choice.

Going forward, I'd love to see rematches with Jones, whom I believe he has the tools to beat, and actually looked better in their second fighter until he got knocked out than in their first, and Stipe, who really should get a rematch considering his accomplishments vs other people who have received immediate rematches.  If he could beat both of them, he would unquestionably enter the argument for greatest of all time.  Hell, even if he beat one of them, he'd become part of the conversation.  But, whatever happens, 2018 is the year that he cemented a legacy that very few other fighters in the sport will ever accomplish.

FEMALE MMA FIGHTER: Amanda Nunes

Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend UFC 232, the first UFC event I've ever been to in person.  I went into the Nunes-Cyborg fight with a bit of a somber mood about me because one of my all-time favorite fighters, Carlos Condit, lost his fifth fight in a row.  Yet was I was excited to see this fight; I'm a fan of both women for their styles, who despite their differences can be summed up as vicious but technical brawlers.  I decided to cheer for Nunes because I like rooting for the underdog, but like everyone else, I gave her very little chance of actually getting the W.

The moment the fight began both women charged forward.  They went at each other with all that they had, and the atmosphere became so electric that I lost my normal eye for fight science and strategy.  What unfolded in front of the crowd was a wild, chaotic sort of art; an energy enveloped the crowd that everyone felt.  The two women went back and forth, each wobbling the other, until finally the Lioness got the upperhand.  She stalked Cyborg around the cage just as her name suggests, and ultimately overwhelmed her until she couldn't take any more.

This win cements Nunes as the first ever female two-division champion.  She is also both the first ever LGBTQ and Brazilian double champion.  She did so by beating the consensus best female fighter in the world, both in the absolute sense and pound-for-pound sense.  It's almost easier to find ways her win yesterday wasn't historic than to find ways it was.

The awe that fell across the crowd when Nunes won created an unusual mixture of loud, ecstatic cheering among some and quiet astonishment among everyone in the crowd.  Strangers high fived and hugged each other; adults with even the most reserved airs about them abandoned their normal demeanor to jump up and down; some were so awed they actually stood with their mouths agate, still trying to process what happened.  That moment alone, where everyone collectively recognized that, together, we had witnessed both history and an example of true greatness, made the price of admission worth it all by itself.

It's hard to say what comes next.  If she can defend the 135lbs belt again, she'll become another first: the first champion to actually defend both belts, rather than just getting a new belt and abandoning the old one.  If she can alternate between the two weight classes, she'll become the first to actually, truly earn the 'simultaneous double champion' moniker.  Even if that doesn't happen, though, I'm sure she'll continue displaying greatness inside the octagon, regardless of weight class.

FIGHT OF THE YEAR: Poirier vs Gaethje

Ultimately this category came down to this fight, Korean Zombie vs Yair Rodriguez, and Anthony Pettis vs Tony Ferguson.  Had Ferguson vs Pettis gone to a third round it probably would've won, as it had an incredible mixture of chaotic action, variety of attack, and fight science/strategy.  Korean Zombie vs Rodriguez, meanwhile, had the best variety of attack of all three fights and had almost five full rounds of great action.

With all that said, though, Poirier vs Gaethje was just too high-octane to ignore.  Gaethje fights like a man possessed; he presses forward without stopping and seems allergic to the thought of being boring.  Poirier, for his part, is always happy to oblige, and traded with Gaethje frequently.  It takes two to tango, as the saying goes, and Poirier didn't back down on his end to give fans a memorable fight.

Despite the chaos of this, though, it certainly didn't lack in fight science, either.  Poirier's footwork looked outstanding: he almost never went in on a straight line of attack, and he always exited on a different line than he came in on after almost every combination.  He also went to the body with his punches, something that is still woefully underrepresented at even the highest levels of MMA.  Mixed with the occasional kick and takedown attempt, he had a pretty well-rounded arsenal that he used effectively to turn the bout around and secure the win. 

Gaethje, for his part, has some of the leg kicks in the game and even mixed in a few elbows when he had Poirier along the fence.  Going forward, I'd love to see more elbows from him, as well as using is high level wrestling.  I respect wanting to brawl instead of grapple, but even just going for a takedown a couple times around means your opponent has more to worry about than just your hands and leg kicks.  If he got his opponents to worry more about his wrestling it could open up the chance to land even more strikes.

Hopefully Poirier gets a title eliminator bout after his impressive wins this year against Gaethje and Pettis.  The lightweight division is in a bit of a logjam after the post-UFC 229 debacle, and Tony Ferguson should be the next one fighting Khabib after the dust settles.  As for Gaethje, he's nowhere near done for, as we saw in his first round victory over James Vick.  Hopefully he can keep improving his craft while keeping his entertaining style.

SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY: Life on Enceladus?

Enceladus is Saturn's sixth largest moon.  It's also the best potential source of life in the solar system outside of Earth.

Back in 2015 it was discovered that Enceladus has a saltwater ocean beneath its icy surface.  Earlier this year, in a paper published in June, it was further revealed that complex organic molecules, which are basically the building blocks of life, are on Enceladus.  This now means the three things required for life as we know it: a source of energy (in this case, the moons volcanic core), liquid water, and complex organic molecules.

This doesn't actually mean there is life on Enceladus.  It does make it the most likely source in the solar system, however.  Considering how revolutionary it would be to many scientific fields to find life outside of Earth, hopefully we can find out more in the coming years.  The subsequent scientific discoveries would be astounding, especially with the fact that we'd learn a planet/moon doesn't need to be an ideal distance from the star it orbits if it's able to produce enough energy from it's volcanic core.  It would make the idea of the "goldilocks zone" irrelevant, or at least subject to drastic change.

It'd also probably lead to some pretty rad sci-fi, too.

SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENT: Possible Alzheimer's Cure

Okay, so this one requires a quick explanation before delving into the actual discovery.  The full description for what the apoE4 gene is can be found here, and should be read by anyone with even a little bit of scientific literacy (seriously, I'm an idiot; if I can read this, you probably can, too).  The summary version, however, is that there is a gene called apoE4.  If you have one copy of the gene, you have a 47% chance of getting Alzheimer's.  If you have two copies, it raises to an alarming 91% chance that you'll get it.  If you don't have it at all, you only have a 20% of getting it.

Basically, apoE4 sucks for your brain.  The chart above lists some of its effects.  The decrease in neurogenesis is of particular importance, as that is the process by which your brain creates new brain cells.  By creating less new brain cells, in addition to all the other potential effects listed above, you're essentially working with both less brain cells and lower quality brain cells.  It also increases production of the amyloid beta protein, which can clump together and form plaques in the brain.

That takes us to this year's achievement.  In April of this year researchers in San Francisco took brain cells from people who had Alzheimer's and restructured their apoE4 genes so that they no longer had the same negative effects apoE4 genes usually have on the brain.  The result was a complete disappearance of the effects of Alzheimer's from those brain cells.

The researchers have been very clear that this doesn't mean they'll have a cure to Alzheimer's tomorrow.  There is a difference between doing this to isolated brain cells extracted from a human patient and actually doing this inside a patient's head, and they're still not sure how to do the latter.  It'll still take some time before they can run human trials.  Still, this is a promising breakthrough, and an awesome example of what can be done when brain power is put toward finding ways to help people.

BULLSHIT NEWS STORY: Gender Neutral Santa

One of the most popular things for hacky click-bait websites to do is find a thing that fits perfectly into the "look at what these whiny SJWs are demanding now!" narrative, which is always guaranteed to generate a bunch of hate clicks and boring "fuck sensitivity, these SJWs have gone too far!" posts in the comment sections of these of articles.  Pretty often these articles are either phrases in a disingenuous way to make the so-called SJWs sound less reasonable than they would fully in context, while in others they are based on very little evidence.

This story is a case of the latter.  It all stems from a logo company asking 400 people what could be done to update Santa, then using those suggestions to survey 4,000 people which of those choices they thought might work in modernizing him.  About 10% suggested having him be gender neutral might work, whereas about 19% said the same about having him be portrayed as a woman.

Now, I could go on to say that about 71% said he should still be a man, but that's besides the bigger point: this was people filling out a survey about what they think might be a good way to modernize him.  There are literally zero cases of people angrily protesting for a gender neutral Santa or calling people shit lords for not wanting him to be a woman.  Rather, it's a case of some bored people at home thinking to themselves "ahh, yeah, kids these days seem to like gender-neutral things.  I guess he can be gender-neutral or whatever" as they fill out the survey.

That's the problem with a lot of so-called "debates" around big issues.  Traffic-hungry website don't actually bring up the debates that people are gonna feel the most connection to, but rather the debates that are gonna get the most clicks.  Those two can overlap, of course, but other times shit like this happens, where a nonexistant "debate" is covered extensively to generate outrage clicks.  This is a particularly stark example, and therefore wins my Bullshit Story of the Year award.

ACTUAL NEWS STORY: Trump's Ever-Changing Cabinet

Last year we got to witness the beautiful mess of Trump's cabinet constantly shifting around.  Sketchy goofballs like Anthony Scaramucci, Steve Bannon, Sebastian Gorka, and Rance Priebus all resigned or got fired in 2017.  It was chaotic, like many new administrative cabinets trying to find their footing, but that was 2017.  At least in 2018 things settled down, right?

Hah.

The first resignation this year came from Carl Higbie, who resigned as the head of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which is in charge of AmeriCorps and SeniorCorps.  It came after comments he'd made over the last few years, with racist remarks of the 'black people are on welfare because of their "lax morality"' sort, as well as plain admitting he doesn't like Muslims and thinking people on welfare shouldn't vote.  Yikes.

Ever since then the resignations and firings have kept coming.  There have been too many to mention by name, but some of the biggest ones of 2018 have been Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Chief of Staff John Kelly, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, and, perhaps most devastating of all thanks to his badass last name, National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster.  Double yikes.

And yes, this is pretty unprecedented.  This mixed with his increasingly aggressive tweets, paint a picture of an isolated Trump, who currently is unable to stabilize his administration.  Hopefully we can all hold on until the 2020 elections; I don't believe the Democratic Party leadership understands what it will take to beat him, but it seems that Trump himself may be too tired and isolated to want to run again in 2020.  Hopefully he withdraws from politics.  But, more important than that, hopefully we can get to fixing the root problems that led to his election in the first place.

MEME: Surprised Pikachu

Aw yisss.

VIDEO: Shut Up About Plot Holes

This video needed to be made.  As someone who loves movies, and loves watching video essays on Youtube to learn more and be challenged to think more critically about them, I often find myself sighing internally whenever I finish watching a thoughtful, interesting video only to see recommended videos featuring some grumpy doofus in their 20s or 30s obnoxiously nitpicking so-called plot holes to show everyone how much of an ~intellectual cinephile~ they are.  No thank you.

The first half of this video does an excellent job of pointing out that "plot holes" are a vague, arguably useless concept, and that many plot points accused of being "plot holes" are not even a problem or mistake.  This part I agree with entirely.  As I mentioned above, I can't help but roll my eyes whenever I see those sorts of videos pop up on Youtube in the recommended section.  Nitpicking surface level details does not make you a smart film critic.

He then goes on to say that people who make those kinds of videos are "watching movies wrong" for doing so, a take I don't agree with, nor his argument that logical inconsistencies don't matter at all.  I think it's fair to say that, if someone who is watching a movie in good faith (that is, going into a movie to enjoy it instead of trying to outsmart it) finds glaring contradictions in a movie's internal logic that are so apparent it'll take them out of the experience, that movie doesn't have good writing.

Beyond that, though, even if I think that someone going into a movie to nitpick it is silly, it's hard to call someone "wrong" if it's how they like to view art.

Still, even if I don't like those arguments, he got people online who like to talk about movies to evaluate how we talk and think about them.  People should be allowed to make and/or enjoy whatever types of videos they want.  But we should also try to reflect about what that all means for our understanding of movies, and this video created a lot of great discussions online about what exactly we can and should be doing with video essays.  Even if I don't agree with everything he said, it launched many, many worthwhile conversations, and that's pretty cool.

BOOK: "War on Peace" by Ronan Farrow

Ronan Farrow's "War on Peace" is an excellent book that traces back the increasing reliance on military solutions over diplomacy during the last couple decades. Interviewing an incredible array of diplomats for this book, including every living secretary of state and diplomats from other countries, this book is thoroughly researched, and it shows. Mixed with Farrow's own time in the state department, it's hard to imagine this book could've been any better informed.

It's also very readable. Farrow has an approachable prose that makes this book pretty accessible to anyone curious about the subject. You don't need to be steeped in foreign policy terminology or be intimately familiar with diplomatic history to pick this one up.

That said, that also brings me to a warning: read this book critically, because Farrow reveres the post-World War 2 diplomatic model so much that he is uncritical about its shortcomings. For instance, he lays out how the US during the Cold War helped escalate the war between the FARC and right wing government forces in Colombia, but calls it a success because it eventually ended in diplomacy. Our role in Latin America during the Cold War was anything but good, and certain conflicts ending in diplomacy doesn't justify the violently repressive dictatorships and subsequent human rights abuses we brought to the region.

So, read this book critically. In doing so, you'll learn an incredible amount about the state department and its recent history.  Considering how important diplomacy is, and how much it could help us right now, this is a book everyone should read.

PHOTO: Migrant Camps

Kids don't belong in fucking camps.

BADASS: Firefighters

Living in California, one of our most frequent problems is wildfires.  We go up in flames about as often as suburban dads say "let's rock and roll" after getting ready to leave a restaurant.  These fires becoming worse is just one of the many negative climate change will bring to our state specifically, but it's also one of the biggest.  And firefighters are really all we have standing in the way between us and everything burning down to the ground.

In today's modern society, we don't have many heroes.  This is, from my perspective, due to both good and bad reasons.  On one hand, we have immense amounts of information at our disposal and incredible chances for transparency compared to any other time in human history.  It's not nearly as easy to bullshit the public into believing in heroes as it used to be, and indeed, we have also uncovered the dark side of many individuals and groups of people once thought to be heroic.  On the other hand, this has also made us pretty cynical and irreverent.  How many people, or types of people, do we consider heroes in the modern day?

Ultimately I think it's good to be skeptical of assigning the label of "hero" too freely.  However, we should really include firefighters in that group.  They risk their lives day in and day out to protect everyone, and unlike cops, they manage to do so without murdering unarmed black people.  They do this everyday despite the fact that they face rough working conditions, severe health complications (who knew irregular sleep and inhaling smoke would be bad for you?), and, in certain areas, low pay.

And that's not even getting to the fact that so many firefighters in California and elsewhere are incarcerated people, who will be unable to find employment as firefighters once they leave prison.

Firefighters sacrifice so much for so little, and yet don't receive the same level of adoration that, say, members of military or law enforcement do.  That's a damn shame.  So here's a shout out to the firefighters out there working to keep us safe (and, again, not shooting unarmed black people).  If you wanna donate to help them during the holiday season, or whenever you happen to be reading this, here's a link to the California Fire Foundation.