Hello, Spongey here.
Well, 2019 is coming to a close. Eh, that’s cool. Yeah, the last few years have been…rough in places to say the least. At the end of 2018, I did this whole thing about how I got sick of the negativity, with within myself. I think getting to that break caused be to more chill because my reaction to 2019 was a big…okay.
It’s So Okay It’s Average. It has the usual ups and downs but generally things were better than the last few years, Personal life, nothing too bad was going and inside myself things were generally better. I mean, I still question myself all the time but that stuff I went into DA and in that The Faith review wasn’t present too much.
There’s just not much to say that I didn’t comment on before, it just was all less bad for the most part. Although Norty did nail how Twitter is the worst sometimes. As far as my internet presence go, it sure was interesting. I started an Out of Context Goosebumps account, which lead to me getting back into the series after hitting burnout with the Most Wanted reviews and now it has more followers than my main one.
That was neat. As for the blog, it was mixed. I continued the self improvement from last year and mostly did one post a week, sometimes bunching them up. That mostly served okay but I needed to bunch them up more here and there because I did not get to some of what I wanted to do.
Granted, quality will always be better than quantity but there are places where I skimped out maybe a bit too much. I was too strict with the one a week-ish thing which lead to this. But eh, it’s better than cracking out too much stuff and I did like what I was able to do.
And I got to review a movie at the request of the studio who made it. Yep, that still, happened!
The main downside is I have a bit less materiel for my annual best/worst I reviewed list. Worst doesn’t matter, I’m fine with doing less bad movies for Scene by Scenes, since I do less in general. I did a fair amount of good things, just not as many great things to fill up a ton of slots.
I still did want to do it but while looking at what I had gathered, I had a better idea. There’s some things I covered this year I’d like to say more about, both good and bad and I had fun looking back at some of the posts from this year. So..why not just go back over everything I did this year, not just the best and worst?
Yep, that’s what my look back at the past year will be. We’ll be going over almost every post from this year and go over them, saying more about the products and how the reviews went down. I say almost every because there’s just nothing to say for the general reviews, given what they are.
But aside from that, I’ll get to comment more on what I did this year. So with that said, let’s see how my posts turned out, from Scene by Scene smackdowns to lookbacks at Marvel movies!
This, is the 2019 Blog Post Retrospective
Ranking the Animated Films of 2014/2015
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/01/05/ranking-the-animated-films-of-2014/
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/02/02/ranking-the-animated-films-of-2015/
We stared by wrapping up a big project from last year. I said my piece on the project before but I still quite enjoyed doing this. It let me talk about movies I haven’t covered yet and finally catch up on some movies I missed. The best part was discovering pleasant surprises like Song of the Sea.
As well as some less than pleasant surprises like one I did a full review for. These years were solid so I had fun going through the movies. Seeing how my opinions worked was out neat to.
Of these lists, How to Train Dragon 2, Song of the Sea, and Inside Out would have made my best things I reviewed. Not sure if I would tie them or night but they were still great. I expected Song to be quite good but it managed to be my favorite Cartoon Saloon movie to date, especially with the movie just got better as it went along.
I touched on Dragons the previous year but this year I got to gush more about it, with the release of the last one and when I watched the animated series. And yeah, Inside Out held up well. Overall, I ended this project well, but I will never do something like this again.s
Yet another look at my screwups
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/01/12/yet-another-look-at-my-screw-ups/
Basically my way of self reflecting and showing what I’m looking to improve on. This was a bit less “fun” than the other screw up posts since I focused less on dumb factual errors and more on big problems that are sometimes hard to admit.
I had to reach for a few of these, including a couple I had moved on from but I wanted to explain why I did certain things and I needed the slots. Otherwise, I really liked opening up like this.
The last one was hard to talk about, mostly since no one had actually brought it up before but it’s something that has been bugging me so there it is. This set the srtage for the year and I have managed to keep all of it in mind since doing this.
By the way, WordPress’s full proofread button is weirdly gone now but the normal spellcheck is there so close enough.
I am too hard on myself sometimes but I think it at least keeps me humble, and it’s easier to deal with mockery this way at least. So yeah, I did a decent job looking back and was able to improve. I actually am big on self improvement, even if it can be hard sometimes.
Not too much else to say. It wasn’t the most fun post but I was glad to have it out there.
Zombies
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/01/19/zombies/
The scene by scene reviews begin in 2019 with one I had been planning since I watched the movie. Boy, was it something. This gave me plenty to joke about and discuss. Even by DCOM standards, this felt pretty coperate, along with having clunky commentary that tries too hard.
It did have some charm here and there, but otherwise was not too good and I had a lot of fun reviewing it. I wanted to do this review earlier, as a collab with a friend but for personal reasons it fell through. Thankfully, I pulled it off well on my own.
A few lulls aside, I said a fair amount of things and explained the flaws pretty well. It had plenty go over as it was an interesting failure. It’s a movie that just flat with what it does but in a way that can make it ironically enjoyable. I usually like the kind of themes on display here but boy did they fail.
Of course, I am very hyped for the sequel coming next year, which will involve zombies. I love this network sometimes. Overall, a solid breakdown over an odd movie.
The best and worst films of 2018
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/01/26/the-best-and-worst-films-of-2018/
Not much to say for this one, these are always fun to do even if it means watching a lot movies. With each one I do more “work’ for it and 2018 had so much to love, so the best list was a lot more fun to make.
The worst stuff was just bleh, I didn’t have too much to comment with those movies. I did trash one certain 2018 movie later at least. There’s not much to add to either list, I’m happy with all my picks and how I explained them, And especially how I went overboard in finding some movies like Thunder Road.
By the way, if I did the best stuff I reviewed, Blindspotting would be on there. That movie’s handling of the subject matter was really good and it deserveed Oscar nods. As for any new additions, Holmes & Watson would go on Honorable Mentions for the worst list, and the best honorable mentions would have Anna and the Apocyplose (a better zombie musical than Disney’s), and Can you ever forgive me. I’ve seen about everything I wanted to now, but you never what I’ll bump into.
I do plan to hold off this year’s until the end of January too, for the same reasons. I’ll keep this up as to rush things. This list really showed how much for tastes and horizons have expanded so that’s one reason I’m really proud of this one.
Moving on!
Huevos: Little Rooster’s Eggsellent Adventure
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/02/16/huevos-little-roosters-egg-cellent-adventure/
I plan these scene by scenes so much that this felt weird. The movies I watch for other projects don’t often warrant further reviews but here we go. This had too many weird little things for me to fit into a short section.
I do feel bad for not being to track down the subbed version but hopefully I pointed out that the original is likely better. This movie was fairly bad but I just can’t get mad at it. It does try and it’s not like it’s one I’m still thinking about it all these months later.
It’s a typical oddball with off the wall humor but without the wit or good story to match. It’s weird but not odd enough to be worth watching ironically. It’s simply a bleh movie that may have just had a bad dub. Regardless, the version English speakers got was a mess.
I did well on the review, since I had plenty to riff on. Not much to say there, I just had perfect materiel to work with so it lead to a good review with good points. It was a wild card of a movie that was fun to review.
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/03/02/goosebumps-2-haunted-halloween/
Remember when I mentioned that the Hotel Transylvania 3’s subtitle got added back in the Netflix version? Same thing happened here. Come on, either have the generic subtitle or not!
Anyway, our first sign of the Stine reviews that dominated this year. I basically had to review but thankfully it did have enough to comment on this style. I thought of maybe switching things up but I just did the normal style to make it easier.
This sequel wasn’t too bad given how sequels tend to be. It was lesser in the way sequels tend to be, and is merely average instead of awful. It did make Slappy more interesting than he usually is though. The thing with him wanting a family is odd but overall I did like him here. It’s not exactly faithful but it’s at least better.
Both movies do veer off from what Goosebumps typically does and in some cases that bugs me, like the pointless boyfriend crap in this one. In some cases, you just have to expect that from a studio family film. I do wish they leaned more into some of the tropes, in a loving way though.
As someone who is more uh, critical of the series, I’m more okay with some of what the movies do. I certainly don’t mind that certain monsters like the Abominable Snowman are not faithful, cuz I’ve actually read about the magic snowball crap.
But I do think they should have actually read these books, as it’s clear they didn’t do so. Come on, there’s no reason that the HorrorTown app should have more examples of the team doing proper research!
But overall, both movies are about what I expected, even if both could have been better on both levels, especially this one. My review is fine, better than average not great. I had some decent jokes though, so it’s an okay review.
At least we have those Fear Street movies, which I have hope for. In the meantime, these movies sure do exist. By the way, this is my most viewed post from this year, nice.
Pup Star World Tour/Puppy Star Christmas
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/03/23/pup-star-world-tour/
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/12/13/puppy-star-christmas/
Ah, these movies. I’m glad to have fully finished a franchise, after Cinderella and Odette left me hanging. These movies are perfect to review because there’s more than enough flaws in all four to make for good reviews but they are each slightly different enough for the reviews to not feel like the same.
Yeah, they feel the same but I still wanted to review each instead of passing on them, which says something. These reviews aren’t my faves but each had good moments, even if 4’s pacing made it hard to recap. It was still worth doing.
These movies are hard to get mad it, because I am more mellow towards these kind of things these days. But as bad as these can get, they are just harmless enough compared to the worst of the Buddies movies to not envoke my wrath. Plus, they aren’t pushed too much, so most people won’t bother unless they have kids or watch bad kids movies ironically.
I really enjoy reviewing Robert Vince movies so hopefully his other films like MVP will give me enough to discuss. 3 is still the worst, btw, as it’s the least enjoyable and is the most stupid and boring. At least 4 has a good soundtrack.
Overall, these movies are master works and I’m glad Netflix carries them.
A Look at April Fool’s Episodes/2019 Halloween and Christmas episodes
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/04/01/a-look-at-april-fools-episodes/
I figured I’d put all the holiday stuff together to make things easy. These holidays are fun, but now I’m glad I only have to do them once a year instead of the bigger ones I used to do. Well, the big ones are better since there’s more variety due to not knowing what I’m in for with say, all those WB ones.
I know what I’m in for with each new one from the Networks. That can be grueling sometimes, especially the preschool ones. Sometimes I wanna cut them out since I tend to say the same things but I only need to talk about a few per year so it’s not like I need to worry about them too often.
The April Fool’s one was a thing. My plan was to actually ask a bunch of my online friends/mutals/people I kind of know to review them, with each picking what one they wanted to do, as a big fun collab. But I just kind of didn’t feel like going that extra mile and figured it wasn’t worth it, given these episodes were mostly kind of there.
Compared to Halloween or Christmas, the April Fool’s episodes didn’t give me too much to work with. They were just there and few rose above decent, although few were bad. It’s crazy that Hey Arnold had the worst one though.
The posts themselves tend to be fine, I do a solid job with the reviews, they can just feel same-y sometimes and it can be a bit much when they release a ton at once. Still, they are fun and I will keep doing the yearly ones since it’s only once a year I have to deal with them.
I’ve thought of others like Valentine’s Day and I might just to make up for my lost attempt back in 2016 but I want to stay away from doing these unless I need to. It’s interesting how this came about just cuz Pieguyrulz did a few and I figured why not go more all out with this idea.
It was nice to have a more lax April Fool’s post instead of having to thinking too hard to do something bigger. I actually got the idea for this one soon after doing the 2017 one and sure enough, I thought of 2019’s a fair few months ago. It’ll be …interesting and here’s a hint: It’s part of a bigger thing for that month.
So yeah, holiday’s are always fun on here.
(Oh and Elena’s one would be mentioned as one of the best things I reviewed this year, because being that starved for things to make up a list is why I’m doing this)
Sky High
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/04/19/sky-high/
This movie has been on my list for a while so I’m glad I finally got to do it. It thankfully held up well, even if it’s certainly more cliches than I remembered. That does hold it back but there’s enough creative use to the concepts to make it fun.
My review is one of the better positive ones since I had more to make jokes about, and some things to comment on. Nothing huge it made for a decent review. There’s nothing to interesting to say for this review, except for two notes.
- My reaction to the facist line wasn’t referencing that one video. I didn’t know of it at the times and I’d suggest reading the comment the maker left on the video since he clarifies some of what he meant.
2. Between this and Halloween Party, that marks two things I reviewed this year where the villain is an adult pretending to be high schooler, who creepily hits on teens. Huh.
…Moving on.
A Look at Misc Marvel Movies
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/04/29/a-look-at-the-misc-marvel-movies/
It was fun to do another bigger look at project like this. This was an idea that was stewing inside me for a while so I figured this year would be when I did it. It did come down to the wire as it took me too long to start on it.
I think I had other movie watching obligations for other projects (also known as my brother watching movies more and roping me into it) so I had to hold off on some.
So I couldn’t fit in some re-watches like Deadpool, but they weren’t needed so it wasn’t a big loss. Otherwise, I liked getting to re-visit some movies the X-Men films. The first time watches weren’t too exciting since it was mostly middling to bad movies but I did get some decent surprises like the latter two Punisher movies or The Wolverine.
I’m just glad I’ve finally seen Howard the Duck. The reviews were basic but good and felt more fair than some other takes on some of these, generally. Blade 3 still sucked though. The best thing I fully reviewed here was X-Men First Class. Days of Future Past comes first but these re-watches just confirmed how much more into that one I was. I just loved the characters in that one and they really made it shine. It would be on my best I reviewed list for sure.
It was fun to look back on these movies with how varied they are. I want more things like that both major comic companies when they’re movies get made, not just the main universe they have. Basically, Disney Fox should be following what Logan was doing and I fear that may not happen.
While we’re on the subject of Fox, Dark Phoenix was fine. It had more time to have substance with the actual title concept but it didn’t rise above fine, and I struggle to remember much from it. I really don’t get why it got so much hate, beyond it being a weak final film for this universe.
And by god, just release New Mutants already!
I plan to do a DC films post next year, so there’s something to look forward to. For now, this was a fun thing to do.
Keanan and Kel-Get the Kel out of here/Freezer Burned
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/05/10/kenan-and-kel-get-the-kel-out-of-here-freezer-burned/
Hey look, TV reviews. I used to do those! Yeah, I explained why I got burnt on those and sadly you shouldn’t expect this to change soon. I am getting back into these shows but I am not as interesting in reviewing bad episodes of them. I have an idea or two but that’s about it.
I’ve said my piece on the various ways these shows can screw up so hopefully this isn’t too big a deal. That said, I got this one in. Kenan and Kel was fun but its bad episodes failed in a basic way. Still, these were fun to talk about it due to how they screwed up. I re-watched the show mostly to see if it would have episodes worth reviewing, since I hadn’t done a 90’s kidcom yet for these.
I stand by what I said, the fist one is messier but the other other tried less hard and was more annoying. This show can lean into its wild antics pretty well at times without needing to be deep but these show how that can too far. I did fairly well explain their faults.
When reviewing comedy shows, I feel like I can just feel like I’m explaining something too subjective but even if you found these funny, hopefully I explained why they flopped for me. But yeah, that’s another reason I am doing less, there’s only so many ways I can say it tries too hard to be funny.
These were bad in a basic way but were still fun to talk about. Get hyped for the like one TV review of 2020!
Hugo the Hippo
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/05/24/hugo-the-hippo/
This one was a trip. As I said, it was pitched to me as rivaling The Treasure Planet but it let me down on that level. It was just an odd little movie with weird ideas and pacing problems, in sharp contrast to the pure insanity of The Treasure Planet and others of its kind.
It’s not even bad enough to get mad at, per say. It’s just bleh, with a side being weird enough to be worth watching once. Fans of trippy animation should see this just for some of the odd visuals. Otherwise, it is people like me who are the target demo, for riffing it.
As far as my ‘weird animated movies” reviews go, it’s fine but I rely too much on just responding with “well okay then”? type bits instead of offering a real joke or point. Otherwise, there’s decent commentary and points. The usual.
It is interesting to see an oddity like this come from a studio like Fox, as even in the 70’s these kind of movies tended to be indie. It was neat to look at a movie like at least, especially one that did get a proper DVD release.
Now we must get a Blu-Ray of The Treasure Planet, to honor Rumen of course. ….So yeah, this was a movie.
Spongey’s Favorite Episodes: Sofia the First
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/05/31/spongeys-favorite-episodes-sofia-the-first/
Took me too long to do one of these this year. This was an odd one, given it was covering like two seasons and a small quarter of another season. Again, my A Look at post was a mess in that way. Subject matter aside, this list was easy to make.
Shows I did scorecards for are easier to do lists of and I recalled them enough to be able to compile this list and I’m happy with every choice, and I explained them well. For once, there’s not much I regret or had trouble with here, generally.
Sometimes episodes I pick for lists are lesser than I recalled but that didn’t happen either so I’m grateful for that. This show really did impress me at times and hopefully I’ve done a good job of going into what makes it work. These episodes show off the solid writing it has and all that other stuff.
And yep, the finale is one of the best things I reviewed this year. That is up there as one of the great cartoon finales we’ve been getting lately. It’s epic and wraps the series up extremely well. I hope Elena’s finale goes just as well.
Speaking of, expect SFE for that once once it ends, the current season alone gives me plenty to work with. While it’s weird this show got the treatment from me that I did, I was still able to honor it well in this list.
Overall, solid look at these solid episodes.
Barely Lethal
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/06/14/barley-lethal/
I love it when reviews fall into my lap like this. I only watched this just because of Dove’s involvement, reviewing this never crossed my mind beforehand even though I knew it wouldn’t be good.
It wasn’t awful but it just gave me the right stuff to mock and I had my review for the month. So, the review turned out well since it came about because I wanted to do it. Not like my best work either but it was solid.
This movie honestly didn’t leave a big impact on me, it was just a weak movie that stands out for the studio. It only stands out for some of the actors and how I came into reviewing it. Still, I like reviewing movies like this, that most people don’t remember but maybe should since it’s something.
It’s tonally confused and just kind of lets the real bad guys be forgiven in the end. I think this premise could have been interesting, especially with the actors involved, but it was all wasted. At least Hailee and Not!Greg appeared together again in Bumbebee, which was much better.
This movie however, was barely good. Oh, that was a good one!
A Look at The Nightmare Room
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/06/28/a-look-at-the-nightmare-room/
And here’s the big one. I know this being my favorite project of the year is odd but I don’t care, it took a fair bit of work compared to usual. Basically, after making the Out of Context Goosebumps account lead to me going through the books, I ended up wanting to not only bring back Goosebumps reviews, but wanted to finally do more of his other stuff.
I found a couple previews of the ebooks of some from this series and I really wanted to re-visit it. I actually read most of them (minus Liar Liar and the Thrillogy) back in high school or so, so I did have history with the series even before I reviewed The Howler.
At first I had no way to get access to the whole series, but then I stumbled upon my local public library’s…website, which turned out to be easy to sign up for and had ebooks of the whole series. That was a lucky break and lead to this post covering all of it. Before then, I was going to just go back to my idea of doing the TV show. It’s crazy how I first started work on that back in 2014 and then it turned into something so different that I scrapped all the work I did before.
The thing with this post is that I finished it like a month before it came out, and I used that time to keep tweaking things here and there. That’s unheard for me. My first idea was for this to come out in October but when I started going more into the work, I put at June which was much better. There was more to the production of this post than usual for me.
Anyway, it was so much fun looking into this series. While some of it could be better, it was nice to see him get a bit mature. While I still like the Tv show, it was a step down for the most part. Although it did give us a taste of what Stine TV not done by Stine would look like, which is cool
Scarecreful what you wish would make my best list, it was pretty creepy and touched on solid themes. And again, had a pretty decent mom in it! For the books, Don’t Forget Me also makes my best, with They Call Me Creature deserving a mention. Creature comes so close, and is argubly the strongest story, and certainly one a depressing one.
The ending bothers me less now but I still like Don’t Forget Me more, it’s just an effective and solid idea, that is a refreshing take on the annoying younger sibling thing. It’s not often the first entry in a series is the best one, but there ya go. .
This project ended up being a bit bigger than I anticipated but it was one of my favorites to do since it was still easy and was a lot of fun. The fact that I went through 15 books here but still have plenty of Stine review ideas tells you how much he’s done. And yeah, this did make me wanna do the reviews monthly so I can blow through some quicker.
I actually didn’t even take have to take breaks like I thought I would, but that may happen if things get too hectic again. This post is one I’m proud of one, and it was nice to tweak a post more.
I may do that for other projects like this but I will admit most tend to be more throwaway than this one but I’ll think of writing some sections for posts on and off as not to deal with tons of posts at once.
But anyway, good post, this section was too long.
Zoo Wars
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/07/12/zoo-wars/
Hey look, it’s the worst movie I reviewed this year, easily! The thing with this one is I hated it more when I watched it in the stream, and I was more calm towards it when I reviewed it. That’s what post anger clarity will do to you, I suppose.
I find less reason to hate on it but still very little to like. Basically every movie from this company is like this: Largely plotless with pathetic animation. This and Star Paws were hard sits because they dragged on for so long. These movies are hard to review because nothing happens in them half the time!
So I’m sorry if my review wasn’t the best as a result of having to repeat myself. I still did fine overall, but I won’t be doing more movies like this unless it gives me more to say.
But yeah, this movie is a waste. It at least tries to be a movie and that’s the best thing I can say about it. I really wish I could this company the next Robert Vince at least he gives giving me stuff to riff on. This stuff is not only terrible, but it’s boring.
Still, glad I got to talk about something as odd as this. It was tough and I don’t wanna review something from Evan again (including the sequel, just no) but at least I did this.
Also, if Episode 9 had the ending as this movie…the discourse would still be better.
Goosebumps Series 2000-Revenge R Us
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/07/19/goosebumps-series-2000-revenge-r-us/
So as I said before, I was getting back into the Stine stuff and I was able to read a bunch of books I thought I’d never get to. After going through Blogger Beware for some nostalgia, this one stuck out and I really wanted to read it in context. So I got a hold of it…and yeah, this reminded me I should go back to full scene by scene Stine reviews. I had been wanting to do some in this year, this was just the one to make me do it.
This was a rough one, a weak story made by worse by a plot twist that makes a bad character even worse. As my re-write (which I’m proud of) showed, there’s some fun ideas to play around with here, but it was mostly just meh with a side order of frustration.
My review got all that out pretty well, although sometimes I go on for too long or nitpick a tad too much. But at least I had plenty to say.
There is one part I failed to mention though: After Micah does that underwear thing, he attempts to pants her to expose the undies she has on today. …Wade stops him, right before Micah tosses the ones he was wearing on his head to Steve but….uh, we’ve still got someone attempting to expose the-oh god I can’t even say the full thing, what the actual fuck.
Speaking of things I didn’t mention, Wade having a boy’s name has inspired a theory of her being trans, which I did not touch because that’s a can of worms that I did not wanna touch on.
Anyway, I was so negative on this one that I made up for it with every Stine review since this one, so that’s good at least. Solid way to start these reviews back up.
(Oh and something someone pointed out to me: At one point the book, which is in first person mind you, says “Sophie smiled at Wade”, when it should say “me”. So on top of all the other problems, it wasn’t even proofread! Geez)
Even more bad episodes of Cartoons I Like
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/07/26/even-more-bad-episodes-of-cartoons-i-like/
The trilogy is complete. These were fun to do but this one was a bit hard, due to a lack of good picks. Most were easy, being either hold overs like A Perfect World or new ones that came to mind right away, like the Lazlo and Teenage Robot ones. But a few ended up doing being interestingly bad enough on a re-watch so a few had to be included that I didn’t plan.
One was the Super Robot Monkey Team one, which at least allowed me to go into one for one of the lesser pilots out there. In hindsight, the Jimmy one should have been there to begin with. Rejects included a Replacements episode and a Robot and Monster one. They were not good but compared to my memories, they gave me little to really work with.
Of course, these were still bad, the list was just hard to make. Maybe if I tried a bit harder I’d find more but I think I’ve exhausted the duds that are interesting enough to talk about. The ones on here could get tough at points, with Samson Needs a Hug being my least favorite.
Shell Game and A Faire to Remember come close but oof this one was just not fun. It’s one joke stretched out and it’s more annoying and slightly uncomfortable than funny. Bleh.
The MLP and Milo ones were interesting to talk about, I’ve been wanting to get them off my chest in a most constructive manners than my crappy vlogs. The former got worse on re-watch for sure. Neither are too bad and are on the higher end for these lists in general.
It was fun to look at some duds from solid shows and look at the different ways they failed but I am glad I don’t have to do another one. There however, will be another better versions of bad episodes post, that will be more fun than this. …Moving on, I forgot to write this part at first.
Pete’s Dragon 1977 vs 2016
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/08/09/petes-dragon-1977-vs-2016/
The sole movie battle for the year. The idea well is kind of drying up, at least aside from some Old Vs New types one like this one. So uh, give me ideas. Anyway, this one was interesting because I had seen either movie beforehand. That means I could have rejected it if neither gave me much to talk about out, or one was better in a less interesting way.
This was another one that was easy to pick a winner for but the mere fact that I liked the remake more was enough to warrant this. This was a case where a not that good movie was improved upon, which is how it should be! I see why some people may have more of a soft spot for the original but the 2016 general just handled things better, especially with the bonds that are formed.
I wish the other remakes Disney does would take the approach that this movie does, by letting the director put their stamp on the matierl vs basically letting a machine make it. This was such a breath of fresh air and I was surprised that it was easily better rather than like barely.
I like the more casual way I’ve been doing these movie battles, I feel the format of before was too restricting. I may bring it back but for now, this works better. The pros and cons made for a pretty solid post, especially given my opinion. Hopefully I did a fine job showing why I like the newer one more.
By the way, I had a few ideas for what to do for this one and I originally had Dark Crystal vs Labyrinth…but the latter was easily better and I didn’t have much to say about them, so there’s that.
Solid dragon filled post, but yeah, shoots me ideas.
Fear Street-The Stepsister/Halloween Party
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/08/23/fear-street-the-stepsister/
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/10/25/fear-street-halloween-party/
More bunching up, since there isn’t much to say about these. I already went into the series itself now that I’m diving more into it. I’m glad I was able to look into two of the better entries. One held up better from what I recalled and the other was solid like I heard it was.
Both reviews have their dull spots because of the portions that just simply build up the mystery more and don’t give me much to joke about. These were still worth reviewing due to their strengths, so I did well enough going into all that. I did mention smaller moments in the latter more to make up for it at least. That and it did well with those. There isn’t too much add for the books themselves, for once I kind of went into them well enough.
I will say I have now read The Overnight and oof, Ricky was way worse in that one, as Halloween Party toned down how much of a jackass he is. Hell, he even seems to start a thing with Trisha in the background of this one. Man, even the assholes are nicer and get happier moments in this one!
Oh and I read The New Year’s Party during the making of this for obvious reasons and he appeared there too…well his last name spelled wrong, oof. Anyway, it was nice to return to Fear Street with these two solid entries.
A Look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Phase 3)
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/09/06/a-look-at-the-marvel-cinematic-universe-phase-3/
Finally got a re-visit another staple. This one I only did so I could talk about certain spoiler things, which I usually don’t get to do in general reviews. And yeah, this one was odd but good. I was able to review a couple I hadn’t done before and clarify certain things here and there.
Nothing too crazy and pretty decent for a post I arguably didn’t need to do. As I sad, there won’t be anything for future phases and if I have any spoiler stuff to talk about, I can do it on LB or even a spoiler section in the initial review since I used to do those once upon a time.
I don’t regret the min-rants I threw it, like the Captain Marvel one. Sometimes it’s nice to get certain things off your chest like that. Also, that bit at the end of the Homecoming section is already outdated, lol.
Anyway, this was fun to do and…yeah, that’s about it. Nothing to interesting to say for this one. Moving on.
The Lizzie McGuire Movie
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/09/21/the-lizzie-mcguire-movie/
Here is this year’s brother birthday review. Okay, so my list I give for him to pick from usually has stuff on this level, things he’s likely to know of one way or the other. Next year I might show off the list so you cans see what he’s picking from. Anyway, the list did not have this but after he picked, I was reminded that this existed and he said go with this if it’s review-able.
So there ya go. I had no real expectations and it was pretty middling. A tad charming but weakly written and nothing special, although nothing too bad either. I was hoping for better given Lizzie is well liked but eh, ah well. It was sloppier than I was expecting but still in the ballpark of what I figured this would be. It has plenty to mock at least, so this was another better review for me. Plus some good points that came to be on the fly, like how pointless Matt’s friend is.
…That’s about it. The only interesting thing to note is that this is a case where I had the actual DVD to work off of. Nothing too interesting in the extras, except for the alternate ending I brought up. It had a director intro, that was cool.
That’s all, I;m banning Disney Channel stuff from next year’s birthday review, I did like two DC related ones in a row.
Friday the 13th Part 5
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/09/13/friday-the-13th-part-5-a-new-beginning/
Ah yes, Friday the 13th. I’m so glad I’m almost done with these. These are still fun due to how dumb they can get, but I will admit the reviews got weaker over time since I keep saying the same things. I’ll say my full thoughts on the series once I review the last one I need to cover but in general I’m pretty middling on most of the movies, even the better ones.
The reviews were some of my favorites to do once upon a time, but once I got less good at being funny they started to get a bit less fun. I don’t have to do them often so there’s that. This one was fine to do, but I had to struggle to remember what happens in this movie. It’s fine, but doesn’t use its ideas more, but is still cheesy fun for what it is. It’s just a fine entry that could have been better.
The review is still good despite what I said, I did need to skim over a bit to get to the mockable bits. Again, not as much to work with as before but this series always has plenty to make fun on. Trust me, watching these and waiting for my chance to snarkily recap what just happened is not as fun as it sounds sometimes.
While these reviews are less fun than they used, at least I’m almost done with them, and this had its moments, I guess.
Goosebumps IDW-Monsters at Midnight
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/09/26/goosebumps-idw-monsters-at-midnight/
First off, Chris Fenoglio, the artist, followed my Out of Context Goosebumps account. Neat!
Anyway, I was so glad to get this one. I will admit my intrest in these wasn’t the highest at first, but only really because my acess to comics was on the limited side back when these first announced. Now it’s easier for me to get a hold of some, and I did basically blow through and the next IDW arc around the same time. But to be fair, this one isn’t like, the most super interesting thing ever.
It’s decent fun but mostly sticks to what you’d expect and as Iwent over, it does that fairly well .It’s just that if I heard a recap of this one, I would have been okay with waiting as long as I said. The next arc is a different story, but you’ll read all about that next month.
It is weird to be fully reviewing a comic like this, but it is on brand for me to only do it when its an extension of a franchise I talk about too much. This was fun to do, and I like the review. It had enough to work with, with the dumb little riffable things and some of nice details., I do feel some of these reviews can focus much on small details, especially given the kind of thing this is but at least it leads to some decent moments on my part.
The comic does a good job of staying true to the formula, while add some things like the cute Irk stuff and also the two moms. Seriously, that’s small but rather amazing and surprising for this franchise.
It was nice to break off from actual Stine stuff to do something like, it was quite refreshing. Not a whole lot more to add to what I said, except that I am very much looking forward to covering the other two ‘arcs”. Until then, this was a fun departure.
Top 10 Haunting Hour Episodes (UPDATE)
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/10/18/top-10-haunting-hour-episodes-update/
I had been wanting to do a short list updating my favorite Haunting Hour episodes for a while but this year is of course when I dedicated myself to finally doing that. Getting more into the Stine myself meant recalling this show and re-watching it, and this was born.
I had so much fun re-watching the show and I just further appreciated what they were able to get away with in this show. The list wasn’t as changed as I would have liked but my goal was more to give a properly polished version for newer readers rather than a totally new one for those who are more aware of the original version.
Still, I’m happy with the list and my explanations. I had a solid variety and I’m much better at planning out lists in general. Not spoiling things meant I wasn’t too loing winded either. This just served as a nice tribute to a show that could above and beyond,
If you’re wondering, I’m not sure if this would have qualified for the best things I reviewed this year but at least now I don’t have to worry.about that. One idea I kind of have may make up for not allowing these if I did though. Either way, my number one is still pretty amazing.
I wish that channel I got some episodes off of didn’t shut down, I really wish the episodes were easier to find. As for my tease at the end, yeah I’m doing an interview with write Erik Patterson. We’re working on it but it is taking a while, so please be patient. But trust me, it is happening.
But yeah, was fun to do another tribute for this great show,.
Liar Liar Vampire
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/10Stil/31/liar-liar-vampire/
This year’s Halloween review! Yeah, it wasn’t as big as usual but I was a bit starved for ideas. The past few years have had me watch movies as candidates but most are not quite enough and I had to go with my like 3rd choice. Bad horror tends to be just boring for me lately, I guess.
The other ones I watched for Dracula 3000 and The Little Vampire, btw. I swear I didn’t pick vampire movies on purpose. Dracula 3000 actually did come close, and is worse than this movie but it gave me more to work with. Plus, it being a bit better than I expected made it interesting.
It’s just a meh teen vampire movie, not a lot to it. Just had some dumb moment I could mock, and some decent acting and comedy here and there. It’s almost an okay movie but the dumb and padded plot sinks it. Sitll, not bad for an ironic viewing.
The review was solid, had some good jokes and comments. It’s balanced nicely, given that meh movies don’t usually give me much to work with. Not my deepest work but it was a fun one to breeze through. I’m glad to review a Nick TV movie that isn’t awful at least.
By the way, I watched One Crazy Cruise to finish off the 2015 Nick TV movies and it was full on..fine! I’d say they’re getting better but I haven’t seen all the Jace Norman ones yet. Anyway, give me suggestions for Halloween/Horror stuff to review next year, I want something a bit bigger than this.
At least the review didn’t full suck. I had to say it, sorry.
Isle of Dogs 2011
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/11/15/isle-of-dogs-2011/
God, this movie. I didn’t know what to expect going into it, and I was fully ready for it to just be meh so I can try out other movies. But nope, it just to be bad. Not just bad, pretty damn bad.
This is one of those movies that tries too hard to stand out, when it’s really just a generic and flat script. I can’t even pin down the genre. There’s not enough action to be an action movie, the romance is barely there, and it sure as hell ain’t thrilling. The niches it could have filled aren’t leaned into enough to appeal to anyone.
I guess it’s a crime/mob type of thing but it fails. It tries to be so stylish and a bit subversive but it just feels insulting once it gets to the latter and the style is just annoying and is not used effectively. This is a movie that gets worse the more I think of.
But since it was barely released and I wouldn’t know of it without the title, I can’;t be too hard on it compared to more notable movies. Plus, the guy playing the villain was good.
Review-wise, I manged to do fine considering I had to skim stuff, as very little really happens in this movie. It’s another one of my better ones for this one, and it’;s always fun looking at lesser known movies. This is one more reviewers should tackle, although it’s far from the most fun bad movie. I like how confused I got, even if it’s more my fault, it was amusing.
I wasn’t sure about putting that legit trigger warning there but I felt like playing safe this time, even if is brief. Looking back, I should put one on the A Serbian Film review, and maybe Movie 43 too. Anyway, hope no one was put off by that.
Overall, bad movie.
Ghosts of Fear Street-Hide and Shriek
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/11/21/ghosts-of-fear-street-hide-and-shriek/
Finally got to go back to this series. I sadly won’t be able to fit in as many of these in the future do to being more interesting in looking at other series, but I’ll do what I can. There are enough to make fun of, trust me. I picked this one since I had read it before this year’s binge, so I was more familiar with the story.
Plus, it was the first so yeah. Here’s some interesting triva: This is not the first time I tried to review this. See, before the blog came to be as it is, I made a first attempt that was straight a Blogger Beware copy thing, and the only review I recall doing was of this book.
Yeah, Stine stuff really is in this blog’s blood. I couldn’t track it down upon a couple google sources. Shame, really wanna see how bad I was in like 2010. I think I called the blog “The world needs laughter” or something like that, cuz it was a name of a Blogger Beware update post. Yeah, that may make it harder to find.
Anyway, this review is likely better. A bit too much summarizing since the book is more about building up the atmosphere and things like that, which can make it drag more than needed. Not my best work but I had some good points and summed up the good points of this one.
The book itself is solid as far as the start to a series like this goes, not much to add. I will add that I have since read the sequel. I’ll review it someday but for not, I will say that it does have a new protagonist but actually solid continuity otherwise. It helps that Emily James came back but given that Stine himself couldn’t keep things consist in sequels, that should still be commended.
So yeah, a review and book worth seeking.
Spongey’s Favorite Episodes: Marathon Edition 3
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/11/29/spongeys-favorite-episodes-marathon-edition-3/
A third part to a trilogy of post projects that I actually wanna do more of! These are interesting to do, but this one was a tad harder. As I said, I’m not finding quite as many shows with episodes great episode to be worth looking at. I had to go for the rejects from the last couple a few times in this one.
I’m glad I did since that’s how I came to talking about the Bob’s Burgers one, among others. Yeah, the pickings were best in the first one but that’s what happens with these kind of things over time. I still had enough to for, just didn’t have the most to pick from. I want to do a 4th one but don’t be surprised if I can’t make it.
Anyway, I am cool with what I picked here and how I explained them. The non-marathons went through a few versions. One episode fell through upon re-watch, at least in terms of what I can say, so I had to go through other options before settling on the Hilda one. I should have gone with it the first time but ah well.
A few episodes were a bit less interesting than I recalled but most were great and gave me plenty to talk about, from Sush Ninjas to Mitefall to Kimmy Finds a Liar. As usual, some were excuses to talk about certain episodes I had been thinking about, like the Creeped Out one.
Looking back, my picks were pretty solid. I think I just think they’re lesser since I had less to pick from. As for my favorites from each section, they would be The Midnight Giant, Losing Nana Bishop and the Oeder Games. It was hard to pick a favorite of these but Hilda is just so damn charming all the way through, Nana Bishop found some interesting angles for a classic setup, and Order Games is really funny and well founded. I see why the last one got shafted in previous editions but it’s still great.
This edition was harder to pick from but I had a lot of good stuff here worth checking out. Also, I like how this edition began and ended with an episode featuring Bobby Monihan, I did not plan that.
Overall, the marathons are a lot of fun do and I enjoy sharing some of my favorite episodes with you all. Even I struggle with future editions, at least we have a very solid trilogy here.
Young Scrooge
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/12/12/young-scrooge/
There isn’t too much to add for this one. When I heard about this one, I figured I’d work for a review. I wasn’t sure what to expect but thankfully I ended up liking it. I wouldn’t say it’s as creative as it could have been, but it had some interesting angles when it comes to how the Scrooge here acts.
And I appreciate the other Dickens references. I like how this kind of becomes another Ghosts of Fear Street review, with the Fright Christmas comparisons. Despite some flaws, the book wasn’t quite as riffable as some other ones I’ve reviewed so the review has some dull spots, or bits where I said something just for the sake of saying something.
The actual critique stuff is good, just could have been funnier in places. Still, it was fun to tackle. A small thing I didn’t mention to save time is that one of the kids in Scroogeman’s class is named Billy, and he appears during the party scene. That scene also mentions a classmate named Sheena. Coincidence?
Most likely, yeah. Just found that amusing. Overall, a solid pick for a Christmas review and the last Stine review for this year/decade. That’s about all I got.
And finally..
Gremlins
https://spongey444.wordpress.com/2019/12/24/gremlins/
We close out this retrospective with this one. At this point, the positive Christmas reviews are a gift to myself. Sure, they don’t always give a lot to talk about but I just like reviewing good movies.
This had some dull spots since scenes building up tension aren’t the most riffable. But that’s a generally a compliment and I had some decent moments here and there, mostly coming from my reaction to certain awesome moments. I loved this one a tad more when I first saw it on The Hub (lol), but it’s still a fun romp.
The review overall is mostly good, so some dull spots can be forgiven. As for the sequel, I might do if I have enough to say about it. I may just cover it on my own time though, but we’ll see. While not as good as Nightmare Before Christmas as far as these positive Christmas reviews go, Gremlins was still a fun change of pace.
A good way to end this retrospective.
And those were my posts of 2019. Overall, they worked out pretty well. Even with some of the stuff I didn’t get around to doing, I did plenty of things I liked doing. I could use some more variety here and there, especially recently but what I’ve done here is okay.
You can tell which posts have more thought put into them, from my lists to the full reviews. That’s fine, not everything can be a big blow out, as long as I don’t try too hard or don’t skimp out too much. Honestly, I am too hard on myself . Even when I can do better, I shouldn’t be worried because I didn’t do a few more posts or that some have dull spots.
Provided I don’t do go too hard into the screw ups I listed, I’ll be fine. Besides, quality over quantity and all that. I’ll do what I can but it doesn’t matter how much I do as long as I enjoy doing it. So overall a mixed year in places but a good one with solid milestones.
I suppose it is important to know that this blog ain’t the only place I put my worthless opinions out there. There’s Deviant Art, where I talk about shows I marathon’d, not just certain episodes. Not to mention Letterboxd, where every Saturday I review a movie my twitter followers voted on. So I do my fair share of work outside of here, so even when I’m slacking, there’s at least something you can enjoy. ( https://letterboxd.com/Spongey444/ )
It was certainly another year, and a solid way to end this mild decade. You know what’s wild? The first Blogger post was in December of 2010. Yep, this time next year I will be blogging for about a decade. Damn. I will do something for that, don’t worry.
I’ve certainly grown and I’d like to end this by thanking all of you who stuck around all these years. It’s a bumpy ride sometimes but it’s worth it knowing someone gets something out of my ramblings. Will I go this next year or go back to the best/worst things I reviewed lists? Guess we’ll see.
For now, this post was a good way to end 2019, and the 2010’s decade.
See ya, in the 2020’s!
A Taste of Spongey 
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