Billboard Hot 20 – Week of July 30, 2016

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Each week, I check out the Billboard Hot 100, and then I rearrange the top 20 based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. Drake ft. WizKid and Kyla – “One Dance”
2. Justin Timberlake – “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”
3. Sia ft. Sean Paul – “Cheap Thrills”
4. Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna – “This Is What You Came For”
5. The Chainsmokers ft. Daya – “Don’t Let Me Down”
6. twenty one pilots – “Ride”
7. Rihanna – “Needed Me”
8. Desiigner – “Panda”
9. Kent Jones – “Don’t Mind”
10. Adele – “Send My Love (to Your New Lover)”
11. P!nk – “Just Like Fire”
12. Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dolla $ign – “Work From Home”
13. Mike Posner – “I Took a Pill in Ibiza”
14. Florida Georgia Line – “H.O.L.Y.”
15. Meghan Trainor – “Me Too”
16. Drake – “Controlla”
17. DJ Khaled ft. Drake – “For Free”
18. James Bay – “Let It Go”
19. Drake ft. Rihanna – “Too Good”
20. Shawn Mendes – “Treat You Better”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Cheap Thrills
2. Work From Home
3. I Took a Pill in Ibiza
4. Needed Me
5. Ride
6. Send My Love (to Your New Lover)
7. One Dance
8. Too Good
9. Don’t Let Me Down
10. Me Too
11. Can’t Stop the Feeling!
12. Panda
13. Let It Go
14. This Is What You Came For
15. For Free
16. Controlla
17. Treat You Better
18. Just Like Fire
19. Don’t Mind
20. H.O.L.Y.

HarmonQuest Season 1 Review

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My review of HarmonQuest Season 1, over on BubbleBlabber: (Check it out!) http://www.bubbleblabber.com/season-review-harmonquest-season-one/

What Won TV? – July 10-July 16, 2016

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In this feature, I look back at each day of the past week and determine what shows “won TV” for the night. That is, I consider every episode of television I watched that aired on a particular day and declare which was the best.

SnoopPieInTheHorse

Sunday – The Night Of (but Honorable Mention to some crazy game show answers from Snoop Dogg)
Monday – UnREAL
Tuesday – Difficult People [7/26/16 EDIT: I initially picked Not Safe with Nikki Glaser because streaming schedules make me a little crazy.]
Wednesday – Mr. Robot [7/18/16 EDIT: I initially picked Another Period because I forgot that Mr. Robot had aired.]
Thursday – Jeopardy!
Friday – Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule, in which we learned an important lesson about trumpets
Saturday – I caught a bit of Round 3 of The Open Championship

Billboard Hot Rock Songs – Week of July 23, 2016

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Each week, I check out the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart, and then I rearrange that top 25 based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. twenty one pilots – “Ride”
2. James Bay – “Let It Go”
3. twenty one pilots – “Stressed Out”
4. twenty one pilots – “Heathens”
5. X Ambassadors – “Unsteady”
6. Coldplay – “Hymn for the Weekend”
7. Disturbed – “The Sound of Silence”
8. Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, & Imagine Dragons with Logic, Ty Dolla $ign, & X Ambassadors – “Sucker for Pain”
9. blink-182 – “Bored to Death”
10. Ben Rector – “Brand New”
11. The Lumineers – “Ophelia”
12. Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Dark Necessities”
13. Fitz and the Tantrums – “HandClap”
14. The Strumbellas – “Spirits”
15. Kaleo – “Way Down We Go”
16. Empire of the Sun – “Walking on a Dream”
17. Bishop Briggs – “River”
18. blink-182 – “She’s Out of Her Mind”
19. Bastille – “Good Grief”
20. blink-182 – “Cynical”
21. Goo Goo Dolls – “So Alive”
22. Weezer – “I Love the USA”
23. blink-182 – “No Future”
24. The 1975 – “The Sound”
25. blink-182 – “Sober”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Walking on a Dream
2. River
3. Way Down We Go
4. The Sound
5. Unsteady
6. Ride
7. Ophelia
8. Dark Necessities
9. Good Grief
10. Stressed Out
11. Heathens
12. I Love the USA
13. Sucker for Pain
14. So Alive
15. The Sound of Silence
16. Hymn for the Weekend
17. Spirits
18. Cynical
19. HandClap
20. She’s Out of Her Mind
21. Let It Go
22. No Future
23. Sober
24. Brand New
25. Bored to Death

Billboard Hot 20 – Week of July 23, 2016

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Each week, I check out the Billboard Hot 100, and then I rearrange the top 20 based on my estimation of their quality.

Original Version
1. Drake ft. WizKid and Kyla – “One Dance”
2. Justin Timberlake – “Can’t Stop the Feeling!”
3. The Chainsmokers ft. Daya – “Don’t Let Me Down”
4. Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna – “This Is What You Came For”
5. Sia ft. Sean Paul – “Cheap Thrills”
6. Desiigner – “Panda”
7. Rihanna – “Needed Me”
8. twenty one pilots – “Ride”
9. Kent Jones – “Don’t Mind”
10. Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dolla $ign – “Work From Home”
11. P!nk – “Just Like Fire”
12. Adele – “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)”
13. Mike Posner – “I Took a Pill in Ibiza”
14. Florida Georgia Line – “H.O.L.Y.”
15. Meghan Trainor – “Me Too”
16. James Bay – “Let It Go”
17. Lukas Graham – “7 Years”
18. Drake – “Controlla”
19. Rihanna ft. Drake – “Work”
20. DJ Khaled ft. Drake – “For Free”

Jmunney’s Revision
1. Cheap Thrills
2. Work From Home
3. Work
4. I Took a Pill in Ibiza
5. Needed Me
6. Ride
7. Send My Love (to Your New Lover)
8. One Dance
9. Me Too
10. Can’t Stop the Feeling!
11. Don’t Let Me Down
12. Panda
13. Let It Go
14. For Free
15. Controlla
16. This Is What You Came For
17. Just Like Fire
18. 7 Years
19. Don’t Mind
20. H.O.L.Y.

2016 Emmy Nominations Predictions and Wishlist

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Emmys2016Poster

The 2016 Emmy nominations will be announced this Thursday, June 14. My predictions and wish lists for most of the major categories are on Moviepilot this year, and I covered Outstanding Animated Program for Bubbleblabber. Links to individual categories are below:

Comedy Series
Lead Actor in a Comedy
Lead Actress in a Comedy
Supporting Actor in a Comedy
Supporting Actress in a Comedy
Drama Series
Lead Actor in a Drama
Lead Actress in a Drama
Supporting Actor in a Drama
Supporting Actress in a Drama
Variety Talk Series
Variety Sketch Series
Animated Program

Folks from the preceding categories who did not quite make my wish lists: Will Forte (The Man on Earth), Fred Savage (The Grinder), Billy Eichner (Difficult People), Chris Geere (You’re the Worst), Maria Bamford (Lady Dynamite), Rashida Jones (Angie Tribeca), Michael Ian Black (Another Period), Fred Melamed (Lady Dynamite), Yael Grobglas (Jane the Virgin), Claudia O’Doherty (Love), Louis C.K. (Horace and Pete), Steve Buscemi (Horace and Pete), Ruth Wilson (The Affair), Craig Bierko (UnREAL), Alan Alda (Horace and Pete), Joshua Jackson (The Affair).

And here is my wish list for a selection of the remaining categories:

Limited Series
The People v. OJ Simpson
Fargo
The Spoils Before Dying

TV Movie
A Deadly Adoption
7 Days in Hell

Lead Actor, Limited Series or TV Movie
Courtney B. Vance, The People v. OJ Simpson
Patrick Wilson, Fargo
Cuba Gooding, Jr., The People v. OJ Simpson

Lead Actress, Limited Series or TV Movie
Sarah Paulson, The People v. OJ Simpson
Kirsten Dunst, Fargo

Supporting Actor, Limited Series or TV Movie
John Travolta, The People v. OJ Simpson
Sterling K. Brown, The People v. OJ Simpson
David Schwimmer, The People v. OJ Simpson
Bokeem Woodbine, Fargo
Will Ferrell, The Spoils Before Dying

Supporting Actress, Limited Series or TV Movie
Jean Smart, Fargo

Guest Actor
Larry David, Saturday Night Live

Guest Actress, Comedy
Lennon Parham, Review

Guest Actor, Drama
BD Wong, Mr. Robot

Guest Actress, Drama
Carrie Preston, The Good Wife

Directing, Comedy
Jonathan Krisel, “Picnic,” Baskets

Host – Reality/Reality Competition
RuPaul Charles, RuPaul’s Drag Race

Main Title Design
W/ Bob & David
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Marvel’s Jessica Jones

What Won TV? – July 3-July 9, 2016

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In this feature, I look back at each day of the past week and determine what shows “won TV” for the night. That is, I consider every episode of television I watched that aired on a particular day and declare which was the best.

MatchGame7-3-16

Sunday – Match Game, in which Tituss Burgess reminded Sherri Shepherd that it wasn’t her turn
Monday – UnREAL
Tuesday – Not Safe with Nikki Glaser
Wednesday – Another Period
Thursday – Jeopardy!
Friday – Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule (Honorable Mention: Jeopardy!, with SNL-inspired categories)
Saturday – Wimbledon Ladies’ Final (Serena No. 22)

This Is a Movie Review: The BFG

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The BFG Disney

Your mileage may vary regarding Mark Rylance’s incessant delivery of Roald Dahl-isms like “snozzcumber” and “jigglyraffe,” but whatever your take on whimsical slang, there are more essential matters when evaluating The BFG. The Big Friendly Giant’s capture of little Sophie (Ruby Barnhill – the most moppet-ish moppet who ever moppet-ed) happens right quick, and thus her life in the orphanage is never fully cinematically formulated. The BFG’s lair is fun to play around in, but it feels less like a fantasy world of escape and more like the status quo. Thus, much of The BFG feels oddly detached from any purpose.

Eventually, the film clicks into gear when Sophie and the BFG visit the Queen (a delightful Penelope Wilton) to enact their plan against the more cannibalistic giants. It is a matter context: yes, the Sophie-BFG relationship is obviously the crux of the movie, but it must be seen within the rest of the world’s (or at least England’s) reaction to giants. The royal reception is optimistic about statesmanship, and also makes a weird case in favor of the monarchy’s continued relevance.

I give The BFG 6 Frobscottle Farts out of 10 Corgis.

This Is a Movie Review: The Purge: Election Year

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Purge-Election-Year-Mykelti-Williamson-Frank-Grillo-Joseph-Julian-Soria-Betty-Gabriel-Elizabeth-Mitchell

It took three attempts, but the Purge series has finally figured out that essential element that so many horror movies forget: characters whose lives we actually care about! It wasn’t for lack of trying, but it was for lack of casting. Ethan Hawke did what he could in the first Purge, and Frank Grillo managed a decent B-movie hero vibe in Anarchy (thus he is the only main cast member back for Election Year), but overall the tapestry fell flat.

This time around, there is oomph to the targeted senator/presidential candidate (a steady Elizabeth Mitchell). Her survival matters since she is running on an anti-Purge platform. But the real satisfaction comes from the supporting purgers, especially Mykelti Williamson as a deli owner who suddenly finds himself on the senator’s security detail. Williamson leans a bit into Blaxploitation stereotypes, but in a knowing sense, so it is more ridiculous than offensive. It is not perfect, but at least this series finally figured out it needed a huge injection of fun.

As for the bluntly satirical election plot, it is – no surprise – simplistic and silly. It’s not that the Purge couldn’t happen in real life, just that its implementation and potential dissolution wouldn’t be so clean. But hey, this is a movie in which all crimes are legal for one night. It is fine that it breaks the rules and bends sense. It is, in fact, encouraged. More overly simplistic ridiculousness would have been even better.

I give The Purge: Election Year 30 Anti-Purge States out of 50 Pro-Purge States.

This Is a Movie Review: The Neon Demon

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neon-demon

About halfway through The Neon Demon, I realized, “Oh, this is a comedy.” The audience had been chuckling throughout, and I wasn’t sure if those moments were meant to be funny, but after a certain point, I thought, “This has to be intentional.” It hit me during the scene when Jesse (Elle Fanning – innocent, affectless) and the cabal of models (Jena Malone – fierce; Bella Heathcote – piercing eyes, affectless; Abbey Lee – severely angled, affectless) are at a bar with a designer (Alessandro Nivola). The entire movie’s dialogue is so devoid of personality and context, but the bar scene is where it is really heightened into Waiting for Godot-worthy absurdism. Nivola pokes at the core of the statements that aim for profundity and mean nothing. I don’t know if Nicolas Winding Refn intended to make a parody of an overly stylized art film, but that is what he did.

Like any good parody, The Neon Demon intuitively understands the genre it takes aim at. But it actually comes at it a bit sideways. The plot (young ingénue is eaten alive by a performance industry) is not so much the target of lampooning as much as it is the canvas draped in self-evident pretentiousness. We’ve seen this story before – All About Eve, Showgirls, Black Swan, etc. – but never this deconstructed. If you cannot jive to The Neon Demon’s wavelength completely, fear not, as its closest antecedent is Suspiria. Just like that landmark giallo, the plot is opaque, but the aesthetics (hypnotic score, violently vibrant colors) are undeniable. See this one on the big screen, and be agog.

I give The Neon Demon 8 Examples of Symbolic Cannibalism out of 9 Implied Promises of Real Cannibalism.

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