Ah, 2024. What can we say about it?
THANK GOD IT'S OVER, THAT'S WHAT!!!
2024 is the quintessential example of a year that started off well and then just went downhill as it went along. The year really was going so well for the first half, but then the second half decided to dump on all that for whatever reason. It's bad enough that there are still wars and conflicts going on abroad and all that "fun" stuff, but for reasons that completely escape me, America decided to make Donald Trump president again! Don't ask me why, Americans never make sense anymore!
But this year will forever stand as one of the worst for me personally as this was the year I had to say goodbye to my dad. He was doing just fine for the first half of the year and then suddenly, without warning, cancer struck him and despite being given months to live, he lasted about a couple of weeks at best before he passed away. Even now, his absence is still felt and has us all feeling incomplete without him... :'(
As for media, this wasn't a particularly good year for media either. Disney continues to prove how utterly clueless they are with Star Wars's reputation going further and further down the drain, the MCU no longer being the powerhouse franchise it used to be, producing a prequel to their remake of The Lion King that no one asked for and very idiotically reworking a Moana TV series into a movie because they're that desperate for money. And that's just from Disney. We've had other cases of franchises making a comeback and not for the better, Pokémon Horizons began to lose steam after such an incredible first impression last year, The Dragon Prince ended on a relatively good note that is in danger of being ruined as it's left opportunities open for further continuation, Doctor Who has become a laughing stock thanks to Russell T. Davies coming back and forgetting he used to be a good writer and so much more.
But we also had some highlights for the media this year too. Pokémon has finally listened to fans and is taking their time on their next game so it'll likely be better than their previous ones, Deadpool came back with his wackiest and most fun movie yet, Transformers gave us the franchise's best movie they've EVER produced, Wallace and Gromit made a very welcome return after such a long absence, Sonic the Hedgehog continues its winning streak with a critically acclaimed third movie and a remaster of Sonic Generations that's been well-received, Vivziepop really hit the mainstream with the huge success of Hazbin Hotel, we got a movie that finally dethroned The Lion King remake as the highest grossing animated film of all time and plenty more surprises kept us entertained throughout the year.
But of course, the biggest highlight for me in terms of media, and I don't mean to sound selfish and big-headed for saying this...I became an author! I finally achieved my dream of writing and publishing my own books and now I have at least two books available to buy on many online stores like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashword and many more with seven more books in the making! :D If you're like to check them out, links to buy are below:
Scott Tatt (Walmart)
Before we recap this year, let's take a moment to remember those we lost in 2024...
In Memoriam
Eric Carmen 1949 - 2024 (American singer, best known for performing "Hungry Eyes")
Carl Weathers 1948 - 2024 (American actor and former footballer, best known for Predator, the Rocky franchise and The Mandalorian)
Akira Toriyama 1955 - 2024 (Japanese manga artist and character designer, best known as the creator of Dragon Ball)
Michael Culver 1938 - 2024 (British actor, best known for playing Admiral Needa in The Empire Strikes Back)
Richard Lewis 1947 - 2024 (American actor and stand-up comedian, known for playing Prince John in Robin Hood: Men In Tights and starring in comedy shows Anything But You and Curb Your Enthusiasm)
Bernard Hill 1944-2024 (British actor, best known for playing Captain Edward Smith in Titanic and King Théoden in Lord of the Rings)
William Russell 1924-2024 (British actor, best known for playing Ian Chesterton in Doctor Who)
Donald Sutherland 1935-2024 (American actor, father of Keifer Sutherland, best known for roles in The First Great Train Robbery, Murder By Decree, The Dirty Dozen, Pride and Prejudice 2005 and The Hunger Games series)
Shannen Doherty 1971 - 2024 (American actress, known for roles in The Secret of NIMH, Charmed, Little House on the Prairie and Beverly Hills, 90210)
Bob Newhart 1929 - 2024 (American actor, best known as Bernard in The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under and for roles in The Big Bang Theory and Elf)
Rachael Lillis 1969 - 2024 (American voice actress, best known as the original voices of Misty, Jessie and Jigglypuff in Pokémon. Also known for roles in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003, Winx Club, Dinosaur King and Cubix)
James Earl Jones 1931 - 2024 (American actor, best known as the voices of Darth Vader in Star Wars and Mufasa in The Lion King)
Peter Renaday 1935 - 2024 (American voice actor and actor, best known for voicing Splinter in the 1980's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon and voicing characters at Disney World attractions)
David Graham 1925 - 2024 (British voice-actor, best known for voicing the Daleks in Doctor Who, Peppa Pig's grandfather in Peppa Pig and various characters in Thunderbirds)
Maggie Smith 1934 - 2024 (British actress, best known for playing Professor McGonagal in Harry Potter, Wendy Darling in Hook, Mrs. Medlock in The Secret Garden and Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey)
Kris Kristofferson 1936 - 2024 (American actor and country singer, best known as a member of The Highwaymen and roles in films such as Stagecoach, Lone Star and the Blade trilogy)
Ken Page 1954- 2024 (American actor and singer, best known for roles in Broadway shows like Cats, Guys and Dolls and The Wiz, also known for voicing Oogie Boogie in The Nightmare Before Christmas)
Liam Payne 1993 - 2024 (British singer, best known as a member of the boyband One Direction)
Tony Todd 1954 - 2024 (American actor, best known for roles in Candyman, Final Destination, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers Prime and Marvel's Spider-Man 2)
Olivia Hussey 1951 - 2024 (British actress, best known for playing Juliet in the 1968 Romeo & Juliet movie and for voice roles in Star Wars video games)
Britt Allcroft 1943 - 2024 (British television producer, writer and director, best known for producing the television adaptation of Thomas the Tank Engine and also creating Shining Time Station and Magic Adventures of Mumfie. Also directed Thomas and the Magic Railroad)
May all those we've lost rest in peace.
Now let's cover everything I've reviewed for 2024 and also what I haven't reviewed but seen:
Media I've Reviewed
Hazbin Hotel: This show took the world by storm, and it's easy to see why.
Hazbin Hotel was an absolute riot from beginning to end thanks to its creative premise that takes advantage of its Hell setting, some fun comedy, quirky and memorable characters, hard-hitting emotional core and of course, its infectious soundtrack. Seriously, I'm STILL listening to the songs even months later after I've seen the show! I also love how the show was more creative with its premise than one would expect and gave us a multi-layered plot with an over-arching story instead of being a generic guest-of-the-week style story like one would've thought.
The show still has some of its own sins though, namely how eight episodes was not enough to carry a story as big as this and so it would've benefit from a longer episode count, the plot they went with should've been saved for a later season rather than being how the show opens, Vaggie's death in her backstory just raises questions of why she and Adam are clueless about angels being able to die by their own weapons and the constant swearing just gets annoying after a while.
Still, Hazbin Hotel was a very fun watch and I can't wait to see more of it in the future. It's a step-up from Helluva Boss, that's for sure! This is the kind of show that showed us what a happy day in Hell looks like...
Full review here: The Media Man Reviews: Hazbin Hotel Season 1
Pokémon Horizons Season 2: Remember how strongly this series began with Season 1? I do too. Good times. So, what the hell happened with THIS season?
Compared to Season 1 where it had a lot happening one episode after the other that kept the story interesting and really sucked the viewer into the new direction the show was taking, Season 2 just seemed so...directionless. After our heroes found Lucius's Lapras, it's like the writers didn't know what else to do until the season was over, and so they had to pad it out with a bunch of meaningless filler episodes that feel like they belong in the Ash-era of the anime, not this series. I mean was it really that vital we had an episode featuring Liko and Roy helping a couple of trainers with an Oinkologne become partners? Did we really need an episode focusing on a random Polteageist joining the crew? And who the hell was demanding to see an episode about Friede dealing with Pokémon poachers (I'd love to see Liko and Roy do that, but not him!)? It's so annoying because by the time the plot kicks up again, the arc's nearly over so it's too late to get it going. I do wish this show would at least give us episodes focused on the Explorers for once as that would be a better use of its time instead of whatever non-important thing they can think of for our heroes to do in the meantime. Oh, and this season was where the Professor Friede and Captain Pikachu shilling REALLY got bad.
As is, the season still has its merits though. Liko comes out of this show really looking good, as does Dot (even if she comes out looking TOO good), the Explorers still continue to be compelling antagonists, the character focused episodes are once again the highlights of the show, the climax felt pretty epic and it set up the next season really well. I just wish this arc could've used its time more wisely instead of feeling like it was meandering until the end...
Full review here: The Media Man Reviews: Pokémon Horizons: Season 2
Kung Fu Panda 4: Po returned for a fourth-round rumble. Was it awesome? Sadly, it wasn't.
Kung Fu Panda 4 is unquestionably the worst movie of the franchise, and that's not getting into the crazy behind-the-scenes stuff that revealed the VERY questionable direction the film was supposed to go in before we got the final product! The plot was super-predictable and unengaging, the humour was ramped up way too much, the new characters leave very little impact, the stakes feel too low for a fourth movie and it's full of wasted potential. This plot would've been so much better if it was about Tigress becoming the next Dragon Warrior instead of some random nobody and if the Chameleon was a more compelling antagonist, it really could've made the movie something great. Oh, and NOT wasting the return of Tai Lung would've helped too!
The only thing the film has going for it is its pretty animation, creative kung-fu action scenes and the voice-acting, but that's about it. When it comes to tales of the kung fu panda, this is one tale that will not go down as a legend of awesomeness...
Full review here: The Media Man Reviews: Kung Fu Panda 4
Alex Rider Season 3: Surprisingly, one of my most viewed posts on the site. I guess there are more Alex Rider fans than I expected...
The Amazon Prime Alex Rider series proved to be a rather interesting experience overall and the best way to sum it up is that if you view it was its own thing rather than an adaptation of the books, it's more enjoyable. This still applies to Season 3. The show is at its best when it adapts from the books for whenever it takes stuff from the books, it's pretty good and well adapted. But when it adds its own thing and does something different, that's when it becomes problematic. There's a lot of annoying changes here like Alex and Kyra becoming a couple despite him already having a love interest in the books, some of the book's plot points happen too early, so the story feels like it's rushing itself and there are moments that stretch credibility with how dumb some of the characters art.
On the plus side, not every change it makes is bad, and Yassen Gregorovich still being alive in this version is one such example. It was great to see him still alive and see how the plot of Book 4 would've looked with him in it. The acting remains very solid for the series and we do have a lot of the Alex Rider wit and action that made the series as enjoyable as it was. If the show would adapt the series more faithfully, then it would've been even better. Too bad the show's over now as it would've been interesting to see how they would've adapted the other books. Why it ended so abruptly, I have no idea...
Full review here: The Media Man Reviews: Alex Rider Season 3
Star Wars: Tales of the Empire: Dave Filoni gave us yet another anthology series like when he gave us Tales of the Jedi. Were these tales any good? Half and half, I'd say.
I say that in the sense that we get two decently told tales about two characters in the galaxy we didn't think we'd get, but they both have issues. Morgan Elsbeth's story is uninteresting and is dead on arrival because it's about a character that nobody cares about, so nobody wants to see her story and seeing her story didn't strengthen her character any. She's STILL uninteresting. Barriss Offee on the other hand was a character we DID want to see, so her story was interesting, but unfortunately very surface level since the three episode per character format means we have to leave out a lot of important details. The show would've benefit from being entirely about Barriss instead of including Morgan in there, or better yet, dedicate Morgan's episodes to Grand Admiral Thrawn, Darth Vader or the Grand Inquisitor instead.
As is, the miniseries is still pretty good for the most part, and easily one of the few times Disney Star Wars hasn't been terrible. We have two decently told tales about some of the smaller names in Star Wars history and brought to life wonderfully with the best looking animation that Star Wars has ever had. I still say you're best off skipping Morgan's episodes and only watching Barriss's. With this and Tales of the Jedi, I wonder if we'll get anymore tales in the future like this...
Full review here: The Media Man Reviews: Tales of the Empire
Inside Out 2: My favourite Pixar movie got a sequel, and I doubt I was the only one asking for an Inside Out sequel. Was it worth asking for? YES!
Inside Out 2 takes the next logical step in expanding the world of Inside Out by following the life of Riley as a teenager and focusing on the struggles that come with that. Just like last time, the movie hits us in the feels with a strong emotional core, a relatable main character, an enjoyable cast of emotions both old and new (Anxiety is especially the big show stealer in this film) and also has some improvements over last time such as an expanded role for Anger, Fear and Disgust and putting more emphasis on how Riley isn't completely controlled by her emotions. The comedy is also still strong and we have a more action-packed tone to make this story feel bigger and more exciting than before.
It's not a perfect sequel by any means due to a very recycled story that feels too similar to the first film, the pacing not being as well handled as before and the criticism I have about spending too much time in Riley's head sadly was not addressed. It's a little disappointing as Inside Out 2 should've been an amazing sequel, but due to how recycled the script is, it ended up being a good sequel. Eh, it's better than bad at least. I'll take this over a certain other Disney sequel we got later this year...
Full review here: The Media Man Reviews: Inside Out 2
Doctor Who Series 14: Remember how we thought Doctor Who was going to be good again now Russell T. Davies is back in the writer's chair? Yeah...turns out we were wrong to think so.
What the hell happened with this season? Russell T. Davies back in Doctor Who's heyday gave us seasons with strong story-telling, compelling mysteries, interesting story arcs and stories that could be funny, suspenseful, scary and exciting. NONE OF THAT APPLIES TO THE WRITING OF THIS SEASON! This series by comparison feels like a first draft that never got sorted out and so we have a series of underdeveloped plots, a mystery with a very anti-climactic end, rushed pacing, terrible ideas that were dead on arrival (looking at YOU Dot and Bubble) and in some cases an inferior rehash of previous stories and character moments from previous seasons. And that's not getting into how there's plot-holes galore and a clumsy retcon involving the villainous Sutekh that was so ridiculous that the fandom of made memes out of it.
The season does have a few bright spots though. Ncuti Gatwa is infectious as the Doctor, Millie Gibson as Ruby Sunday is a tonne of fun, the visuals are spectacular, Sutekh's reveal was expertly handled and a fantastic cliffhanger and at least a few episodes such as The Church on Ruby Road, The Devil's Chord and Boom were decent. But it's not enough to save this mess of a season and RTD's behaviour regarding those who have critiqued the show is doing him no favours at all. It's really sad when the fans are looking at this and thinking "You know what, maybe Chris Chibnall wasn't that bad after all"...
Full review here: The Media Man Reviews: Doctor Who Series 14 (ft. The Wandering Fox)
The Dragon Prince Season 6: This show's had it rocky since Season 4. The story-telling became too crowded and convoluted, the cast was too big to juggle, and the tone became more childish and immature. Did that improve for this season? Eh...a little?
Season 6 still suffers from an overcrowded plot and bloated cast of characters and not all of the plots in the season feel that necessary to include, the humour is still annoying and there are just lapses in logic that make the story-telling questionable. As is, it IS an improvement over Seasons 4 and 5 due to being a little more focused, the plots that actually matter are well done, the humour gets toned down near the end to emphasize that this is a serious situation, the world-building remains strong, and we had a lot of great character moments. If I were to rank the Mystery of Aaravos seasons from worst to best, I'd probably say Season 6 is the best one, but that's damning it with faint praise at best because it's still massively flawed and the other seasons don't exactly provide strong competition. Still, this season did at least give us hope that the next season would end the show on a high note. Did that happen? More on that further below...
Full review here: The Media Man Reviews: The Dragon Prince Season 6
Deadpool and Wolverine: This time, I'm going to talk about it as myself and not as Deadpool.
Deadpool and Wolverine was one of, if not the most fun movie of the year. It's a Deadpool movie, what else were you expecting? The plot is as suitably wacky as it should be for a Deadpool movie, seeing Deadpool and Wolverine interact with each other was comedy gold, the comedy is some of the best yet in a Deadpool movie, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are on top form, the visuals are fantastic, the action is spot-on and the film features a lot of cameos and references to other Marvel media and even throws a bone to some of the less popular characters from the less beloved movies out there. The only problems it has that hold it back from being the best of the trilogy is that the film is a little too meta for its own good so it feels like only die-hard Marvel fans will get some of these jokes, the subplot with Wade and Vanessa not being a couple feels pointless, Deadpool's supporting cast are hardly in it, the film barely feels like a follow-up to Deadpool 2 to the point it's like it's embarrassed about the film or something and the climax is too long.
As is, the film was a real good time and one of the most fun movies I've watched all year. It says a lot when the best movies Marvel have made in recent years are the Deadpool movies and not any of their recent MCU garbage. Just shows the power of Deadpool, eh?
Full review here: Deadpool Reviews: Deadpool and Wolverine
Pokémon Horizons Season 3: Wow, TWO seasons of Horizons in one year? This show has been busy.
While Season 2 felt directionless and meandering, Season 3 felt incredibly frustrating to watch at times. Now don't get me wrong, the season did do a lot of things right. The story was focused squarely on Liko, Roy and Dot so they actually get their times to shine for once, the Rising Volt Tacklers are sidelined so they (especially Friede) are no longer stealing the spotlight from them, the plot is better focused and has a clear end goal in mind, there's very little filler here and while it does feel like this arc was a massive tangent from the main story, it did have a purpose to the main plot by developing Liko, Roy and Dot's battle skills so now they no longer need the adults to hold their hands. Also the scene with Liko and Amethio in the cave having a heart-to-heart with one another was one of the best scenes in the entire series.
So why was this season so frustrating? Very simple: because it made a lot of aggravating choices that made the season more annoying than enjoyable to watch. Liko got unnecessarily shafted to the point she was making ROY look good by comparison, Roy got shilled way too much to the point this season feels like it was written by a rabid Roy fan who hates Liko's guts, the Explorers yet again don't show up enough times and feel wasted here, the Gym Battles grew tedious to watch VERY quickly because of how repetitive and formulaic they were and the ending wasn't satisfying to watch because the writers made the VERY confusing decision to make Roy win when there was no narrative reason for him to do so! They could've at least thrown Liko a bone by letting her end this turbulent arc on a win, but no, they needed to make her lose for the umpteenth time because...actually, I can't think of a reason why it had to happen. Someone in the writing team must have a thing for Liko getting her ass kicked or something. It says a lot when I had to write a two-part essay rewriting the whole season in order to make it better.
Here's hoping the next seasons won't be anywhere near as frustrating as this season was...
Transformers One: About time we finally got another animated Transformers movie. And I doubt any of us were expecting it to be as good as this!
Transformers One was letdown by poor marketing that made people think it was a dumb silly kid's cartoon, when that couldn't be further from the truth. What we ACTUALLY got was an intriguing character study on the bots who would later become Optimus Prime and Megatron, a fascinating new take on Transformers lore that provides arguably the most definitive depiction of Cybertron and the origins of the Autobots and Decepticons yet, some slick and awesome action scenes, complex themes and subject matter that makes for a more nuanced story, a tone that gets darker as it goes along and best of all, a brilliant arc for D-16 that sees him fall down the spiralling path that leads him to becoming the fearsome Megatron. This movie is unquestionably the best movie to come out of Transformers ever and I REALLY hope we get sequels to it!
I even have very, very few complaints about the story. It's mostly how some of the jokes don't work and Sentinel Prime being a bad guy was way too obvious for it to be a twist. Also while I like the characterizations of all the characters here, Shockwave's the one exception as he doesn't really act like Shockwave. Still, very minor flaws in the grand scheme of things. Transformers One is my favourite movie of the year, and probably the BEST movie I've seen this year. I'll happily transform and roll out to watch this movie any day...
Full review here: The Media Man Reviews: Transformers One
The Wild Robot: DreamWorks had another movie cooking in the oven and let's just say, this fresh-looking pie looked like it was worth sinking our teeth into. So how was it? Easily the best movie DreamWorks has released in a while.
The story is essentially WALL.E meets Robinson Crusoe and it gives us a very heartfelt and engaging story that is very visual based, emotional and a neat sci-fi spin on the castaway plot. It's one of DreamWorks's more artistic projects and that made it a very sweet and enjoyable watch from beginning to end and as many people have commented on, it's like DreamWorks were channeling their inner Studio Ghibli with how the plot was executed. The bond with Roz and Brightbill was also well-handled and very heartwarming to watch, and the cast as a whole are very charming in their own ways. All that combined with some of DreamWorks's prettiest animation ever put to film and you have one heck of a solid movie.
Like with Transformers One, the flaws this movie has are very minor and barely inconvenience the film in anyway. I do feel the first act was too overly mean-spirited and Longneck's death was unnecessary, but aside from those minor things, I have very little to critique here. This is a movie that will have you going wild with how good it is...
Full review here: The Media Man Reviews: The Wild Robot
Moana 2: Disney does not have a good track record when it comes to sequels. Sadly, Moana 2 keeps up this trend.
Moana 2 was meant to be a TV series, but it was reworked into a movie. This was definitely a bad idea, for the movie suffered heavily as a result. The plot is a straight-up copy-paste of Frozen II, the pacing is garbage, the comedy is ramped up too much, the characters aren't as engaging as last time, we have at least two cases of characters acting needlessly antagonistic when they're not actually villains and the songs, while decent, aren't as memorable as the first movie. And don't get me started on how overly meta this film gets with its recurring joke on "Hey, remember this from the first film?!" There's so much wrong with this movie and it could've been avoided so easily if it was kept as a TV series instead of being forced into a movie.
It is kept away from being terrible thanks to some slick action scenes, enjoyable voice acting and beautiful animation, but Moana 2 is otherwise a very lackluster sequel that didn't need to exist. I think we're better off staying on Motunui instead of venturing out into the ocean if this is what we're in for in future movies...
Full review here: The Media Man Reviews: Moana 2
The Dragon Prince Season 7: And so here we are, the grand finale of The Dragon Prince. Did it end on a high note? Not really.
The Dragon Prince Season 7 did do some things right thankfully. It toned down the humour to the point we finally have a season that isn't trying to be funny all the time, the story takes itself a little more seriously and treats the situation as serious for once, Aaravos is charismatic and cunning villain, Callum and Rayla continue to have lovely chemistry together, the plot is easier to follow as it's not quite as overstuffed this time and the conclusion does feel mostly satisfying, even if it could've been better.
It's let down by Aaravos being a bit of a pushover, some moments of characters being complete idiots in order for the plot to work, the story being too open-ended for what's supposed to be the final season, a retcon involving King Harrow that creates more problems than it solves and a lot of things that don't add up in the story. This was an OK conclusion to The Dragon Prince (if it even is a conclusion), but it should've been a perfect conclusion. In any case, I'm done with this show and I have no desire to continue with it if we do get any future seasons...
Full review here: The Media Man Reviews: The Dragon Prince Season 7
Media I Haven't Reviewed, But Seen
Sonic the Hedgehog 3: We got a third Sonic movie, and one with Shadow the Hedgehog making his cinematic debut no less.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was a very fun time and another example on what a home run these films can be. The plot is exciting, the fan service is great, Shadow the Hedgehog is a show stealer, the human cast are extremely downplayed so we get more screentime with the Sonic cast, the action scenes are amazing and there's some really good comedy here.
It is a little let down by Jim Carrey Jim Carreying his way through the movie a little too much, G.U.N. being window dressing when they should've had more to do with the story and letting Tom live instead of killing him off felt like a cop out. As is, I still think this is the best of the trilogy since it's the movie that feels the most like a Sonic movie and is the most enjoyable as a result. I can't wait to see what we'll get for Sonic 4 in the future...
Full review coming later this week.
That Christmas: This movie only just came to Netflix this year, and already I'm convinced this'll be another modern Christmas classic that will be enjoyed again and again in the coming years.
That Christmas was a really sweet watch thanks to a heartfelt story about a bunch of people living in a seaside town that all have their own little problems to deal with, a lot of Christmas spirit, an enjoyable cast of characters, some charming humour and some really lovely animation. I'll be watching this again next Christmas, that's for sure...
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl: For the first time since 2008, we got a new Wallace and Gromit movie, and for the first time since 2005 it's a feature length Wallace and Gromit movie. Was their return worthwhile? For the most part, yes. I enjoyed seeing the signature Wallace and Gromit style humour again, the claymation is as spot-on as ever, Ben Whitehead is a surprisingly good soundalike for the late Peter Sallis, there's a lot of creative gags and inventions on display here and Feathers McGraw was a welcome return as the villain of the movie. As is, I find this to be one of their weaker outings due to a plot that feels like it retreads a bit of old ground from previous shorts, a plot twist that only raises too many questions, some characters being stupid to the point it feels like taking the mickey and the fact that this plot wasn't big enough for a feature length film. It should've been a short, not a movie is what I'm saying. Still, it was way better than what Doctor Who gave us for Christmas this year, and it was just nice to see the iconic duo again. If this is the last time, we'll ever see Wallace and Gromit in action, then I'd say it's a decent final outing for them. At least Nick Park got to live long enough to make one last project with the duo, and that's what makes me appreciate this film's existence at least.
Transformers: Galactic Trials: It's a Transformers racing game. I'd have been crazy NOT to play it! The concept of Transformers as a racing game is a great one and the execution works really well with how you race in alt-mode and get some combat areas in robot mode to shoot enemies and even attack other racers, the selection of playable characters includes a lot of familiar names and lesser-known characters, the racing tracks are awesome and challenging and the game is overall just a fun time. If you love racing games, then give this a play. You won't regret it...
And that's it for this essay. 2024 wasn't a great year for media, but it still had some highlights here and there. Here's hoping 2025 will be better.
Feel free to share in the comments below your experiences with 2024. Did you have a good year or not?
In the meantime, I wish you all a Happy New Year and themediamanblog will have plenty more blog posts to come in the future. See you then media fans!
Dedicated to my dad
1961 - 2024
Life will never be the same without you, dad
2025 and all the years after won't feel the same without you
Rest In Peace
All of these are some good points. ^^
I think one favorite media of this year I could mention is Wicked - a fantastic and solid stage-to-screen adaptation, and a great example of how a Broadway film should be done. Great sets and cinematography, phenomenal songs, and stage musical actors/singers as the main stars, with only some A-list celebrities being supporting cast members. :D
2024 for me is being good at start to not-so great for me.
Rest well for your father, he'll be so happy for you what you have become. So, your dad is younger than my dad! amazing! He looks like really happy man quote from Postman Pat theme would sing.
It's also sad year for anime fans especially two legends died that part our childhood AND death of Funi-name only by merger with Crunchyroll after two years that's is happening and Roosterteeth shut down.. media on it's own isn't much better either all thanks to GOD DAMN AI.................
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl for me is weakest entry of great franchise, especially ending which is disappoints me like.. THEY…