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Awesome Friday: 90th Academy Awards Coverage

I kinda love the Oscars. It’s popular to write it off as a bunch of rich people given each other gold statues but it’s also a celebration of film and it’s a great night to highlight many of the people who most of us don’t think about when it comes to filmmaking: screenwriters, editors, cinematographers, sound designers, and so on.

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Awesome Friday: Matt’s Favourite Dozen Films of 2017

Every year regardless of how much or little writing or podcasting I do (and it’s admittedly much less these days) I still like to highlight my favourite films of the year. 2017 is no different. I have a dozen favourites this year and if you would like to check them out you can do so over at Awesome Friday!

Another year, another list of favourites. 2017 has been a … turbulent year in the real world but a stellar one for film. You may have noticed that I haven’t been writing much lately, VIFF coverage aside, but I have been gong to the movies. As of this writing I watched 323 movies in 2017, 70 of which were 2017 releases. Not too shabby considering that I only go to one festival.

Link: http://awesomefriday.ca/2018/01/matts-favourite-dozen-films-of-2017/

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I went to an anti-racist rally and all I got was this renewed sense of hope

It feels like we’re at a crossroads. Emboldened by the election of a racists president int he United States, and the events at Charlottesville a bunch of racists decided to organize a rally in Vancouver City Hall. It didn’t take long for a counter protest to be organized. Then came the question: Do I go?

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Awesome Friday: Wonder Woman Review

Wonder Woman, the latest entry in the DCEU is out and, much to my relief, it’s really good. Here’s the review I wrote for Awesome Friday!

‘Wonder Woman’ Review: DC made a good movie and I am SO HAPPY

It’s been a long four years since Man of Steel premiered and started the new DCEU shared universe. It has been a universe of muted colours and asshole heroes, and one that has been hard to be optimistic about future entries in, but I am happy to report that Wonder Woman is a great movie and that you should definitely see it.

It’s not a movie without issues mind you, and it has a lot of the issues that even the best superhero origin stories do. The big CGI laden battle at the end is kinda blah. There’s a twist you might see coming from a mile away that leads up to said battle. There’s a huge lack of closure for some characters. None of this stuff is deal breaking though, and honestly I feel kinda nitpicky pointing it out. There are some things about good superhero movies that I can accept at this point, and a boring final battle is one of them because the big final battle with an ill-defined bad guy is ok when you have a hero who is incredibly well-defined and nearly perfectly portrayed.

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The Disappearing Computer: Walt Mossberg’s final column

Walt Mossberg writing his final column:

This is my last weekly column for The Verge and Recode — the last weekly column I plan to write anywhere. I’ve been doing these almost every week since 1991, starting at the Wall Street Journal, and during that time, I’ve been fortunate enough to get to know the makers of the tech revolution, and to ruminate — and sometimes to fulminate — about their creations.

Now, as I prepare to retire at the end of that very long and world-changing stretch, it seems appropriate to ponder the sweep of consumer technology in that period, and what we can expect next.

Walt Mossberg is a titan in the field of tech journalism. Chances are you if you read about tech, you’ve read his work. This reflection on his career, and look forward, is a lovely last column to cap off his career.

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Awesome Friday: On Star Wars, Then and Now

There are two types of people in the world. Those who prefer Star Trek and those who prefer Star Wars. I’ve always been the former, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love the former. For the the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on home video I wrote a piece exploring why maybe I don’t love it as much now as many of the people I know.

On Star Wars, Then and Now

Both times there was this immediate rush. Star Wars is good again. What a time to be alive. The interesting thing about watching a movie twice in two days is that everything stands out. The stuff that works and the stuff that doesn’t. There’s a lot of stuff that works about the new Star Wars movies. I love Rey, Finn, and Poe. I love the new locations in Rogue One and the Jedi-less story it tells. I love the tone of the movies, and the effects are some of the best I have ever seen.

I just wish that they didn’t feel exactly the same. There are two George Lucas quotes I have been thinking about lately. The first is from the special features of The Phantom Menace. He’s describing the story of the prequels, how it will have familiar beats as the original trilogy, and he compares them to stanzas in a poem that rhyme. The second is from 2015, right after he’d seen The Force Awakens he was asked what he thought and he replied “I think the fans are going to love it, it’s very much the kind of movie they’ve been looking for.”