RJ Writing Ink

My Favorite Movies of the 2010s

Originally, this post would be about my top ten favorite movies of the decade. However, looking over the number of movies I loved, I realized this would be either a.) impossible or b.) take too long. Also, my policy on entertainment is that i won’t check it out unless I think I’ll like it. Instead, I decided it’d be better to do what I call a cavalcade of cinema.

I’m going to list off all the movies this past decade that I enjoyed. Then I’ll sum up my thoughts about them in a two sentences or less. That way it’s a cavalcade of cinema

Despicable Me (2010)

The start of a great new franchise and the creation of the Minions. Those little guys are so much fun.

Toy Story 3 (2010)

I have yet to fully see it, but I’ve seen enough clips of it online to count. Was the perfect way to cap off the franchise that started Pixar’s success.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

An infinitely better reboot than that mess in the 2000s. Was also what first introduced me to Andy Serkis

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

A Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard masterpiece that satirizes the horror film genre. One of the few horror films I enjoy.

Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)

Heralded the start of a new era of movies with an unprecedented crossover. This deserves to be preserved in the National Library of Congress for all time.

Despicable Me 2 (2013)

An improvement over an already amazing film with a great plot. Also gave us “Happy” by Pharell Williams

Book of Life (2014)

Jorge Gutiérrez perfects the art style he created with El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera in this movie that was Coco before Coco was Coco.

The LEGO Movie (2014)

A movie about one of the greatest line of toys of all time was awesome enough. Also, it’s what introduced me to Chris Pratt.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

As much as I criticize the Sequel Trilogy, I admit that it did give us some great new characters. Thus, it gets on this list. However, it also killed off Han, and I’m convinced its because Harrsion Ford didn’t want to play Han Solo anymore.

Jurassic World (2015)

Another Chris Pratt success whilst serving as a soft reboot to the classic 1990s franchise. The fact that most of the park’s sponsored by corporations is so realistic.

Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F (2015)

This film saw the return of one of the most iconic villains in anime history, gave him a godlike new form, and did the same for Goku and Vegeta. The best part is that Frieza comes back for a third time later!

The Martian (2015)

It’s Castaway meets Saving Private Ryan in space. Matt Damon was amazing in this film.

The Peanuts Movie (2015)

The first new addition to the legendary Peanuts franchise in years. It captures the magic that made Charlie Brown and his friends so beloved in the first place.

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Started off Phase 3 of the MCU with as big a bang as possible. It functioned as a mini-Avengers film and served as our introduction to the best live-action Spider-Man to date.

Your Name (2016)

One of the most romantic and surreal films I’ve ever seen in my life. I can’t sit through the ending without feeling tears welling up in my eyes.

Deadpool (2016)

This film made me acknowledge something that I tried to deny for years: Deadpool can be pretty funny. It also made Ryan Reynolds one of my favorite actor’s.

Sausage Party (2016)

This film’s like if South Park decided to make a satire of Pixar movies, complete with humorous messages about life and learning to find meaning in it without relying on others. Also, the ending is hilarious.

Doctor Strange (2016)

Benedict Cumberbatch gives us our first true dive into the mystical side of the Marvel Universe as Doctor Strange. It also introduces an important Macguffin for Infinity War.

Get Out (2017)

This is one horror film that you have to see in order to fully understand. Jordan Peele’s a master of the genre

Isle of Dogs (2018)

A true masterpiece of stop-motion animation. That sushi making scene alone is a work of art.

Black Panther (2018)

A cultural phenomenon that takes a good, hard look at the legacy of Western intereference on Africa. Michael Jordan’s role as Erik Killmonger remains one of the best villains in the MCU, as he has very genuine reasons to hate Wakanda

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Marvel did the impossible by juggling almost all of its roster in one of the most ambitious crossover films ever made. The ending will leave you with your mouth hanging open in shock.

Spider-Man: into the Spider-Verse (2018)

A love-letter to Marvel’s poster boy and one of the greatest heroes of all time. I couldn’t stop listening to “What’s Up, Danger” for days afterwards.

Ready Player One (2018)

Pop Culture: The Movie, and I loved every minute of it.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)

Tom Hanks effortelessly slips into the role of Mister Rogers and reminds us of how a little kindness can change the world for the better. We need another Mister Rogers.

Apollo 11 (2019)

An incredible, minute by minute documentary of one of the defining moments in human history. It comes out just in time for the 50th anniversary.

Detective Pikachu (2019)

I’m convinced that Ryan Reynolds took this job so he could reference it in the next Deadpool movie. However, that doesn’t stop it from being the best movie based on a video game that I’ve ever seen.

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

No words can properly describe the level of excitement from this culmination of eleven years of films. Go watch it on Disney+!

Dragon Ball Super: Broly (2019)

BROLY. IS NOW. CANON. Nuff said.

Steven Universe: The Movie (2019)

If there was a way for a TV Movie to win an Oscar, then I would want it to be this movie.

Joker (2019)

It’s dark, depressing, and nihilistic, yet I couldn’t stop watching it. For the first time since Heath Ledger, we have a Joker. Jared Leto doesn’t count.

Klaus (2019)

One of the best Christmas movie’s I’ve seen in years

Cavalcade of Cinema

Agree with my cavalcade of cinema picks? Let me know your cavalcade of cinema in the comments down below! Happy New Year!

Click here to see more stuff recapping past years.

Click here to see my reviews for various films.

My Plans for December 2019

Thanksgiving Day’s behind us and we survived Black Friday; and I hope the Force was with you if you went shopping. Now the holiday season’s here, and if you’ve followed RJ-Writing Ink since last year, you’ll remember what I did. I watched a holiday special a day, then reviewed it here. Now I’m here to say that I won’t be doing that again this year.

There are multiple reasons behind this. Firstly, trying to write a special a day got hectic for me. I still had to do my other posts, and it got a little difficult. Secondly, there are a few things that I want to focus on for this December. Thus, here are my plans for December 2019. I think you’ll find them taking you to a galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars Hype Build-Up

I don’t get as much of a chance to write about it here, but I’m a huge fan of Star Wars. I enjoy everything from the movies to the books, games, and lore. Despite my love of the franchise, I’ve been a skeptic about the sequel films since they started. However, I refuse to let my optimism be diminished. As such, I aim to make sure the Force is with me for December.

All throughout December, I’m going to be writing about all things Star Wars. There’s no set theme for this, as it can be about anything from the franchise. Some ideas I do have, though, include:

• Favorite Moments in Star Wars
• A look at the philosophies of the Jedi and Sith (and their flaws)
• Characters in Star Wars I’m a fan of
• Good things about the Star Wars prequels
• My biggest problems with the Star Wars sequels

All of this will lead up to my review of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. May the Force be with us this December.

A Look Back on 2019

If you’ll recall, I wrote a post at the end of last year calling 2019 “The Year of Endings.” The rationale being that this year saw the end of a lot things in pop culture. With the year coming to a close, I want to look on some of the things that came to an end this year. I’m not sure if this will be one post or a series of posts, but I can tell you that I plan to have it up between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

To clarify, most of what I’ll be writing about will be things I’ve already written on RJ-Writing Ink.

A Look Back on the 2010s

For better or for worse, the 2010s were an eventful decade for humanity. From world-changing historic events to the rise of cultural icons, the 2010s were big. Thus, with the decade coming to a close, I felt it’s appropriate to look back on the big highlights.

Expanding on my look back on 2019, I’ll be writing on a number of topics. I already have some ideas in place:

• Biggest Global Events of the 2010s
• Best Movies of the 2010s
• Biggest moments for pop culture in the 2010s
• Best TV shows
• Best animated TV shows

There’s no set timetable for this, though. All I know is that I’ll be posting it throughout December.

Some Holiday Specials

Alright, I know I said that I wouldn’t be focusing on holiday specials this year. However, if I see a special or movie that I like, then I want to write about it. Don’t expect it to take up much of my blog, though.

May the Force Be With Us

Well, that’s everything that I wanted to say. In between all this, I’ll be doing posts on my regularly scheduled topics. May the Force be with you!

Click here for some of my Star Wars stuff.

Come here to see some of my Animanga stuff.

Click here to see my other animation stuff.

2019 will be upon us in a matter of hours, and there is already so much to look forward to. It is a tradition of mine every time the new year rolls around to look over all the things that I have to look forward to in 2019. Now that I have this blog, I thought “why not share it with everyone?”

Then I suddenly realized that a lot of the things I have to look forward to in the new year involve the end to stories that I have followed for years. So I decided to call 2019 “The Year of Endings”.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly

BROLY’S LEGEND FIRST BEGAN IN 1993, WITH BICEPS BIGGER THAN GOKU’S HEAD AND A HEART THAT LONGED TO BE FREE!

Broly Chronicles, Team Four Star

This is the Dragon Ball film that fans have waiting for. The reason can be summed up in a single, five-letter word: B-R-O-L-Y.

Debuting in the 1993 film Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan, Broly has proven to be among the most popular villains in the Dragon Ball franchise. This is in spite of the criticism to his backstory, which Team Four Star has summed up as being “really dumb”. So when it was announced that a reworked version of Broly was going to be the main villain in the next Dragon Ball film, fans went bananas. It premieres on January 16th in the US, and I got tickets for opening night. And you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m going to write about it after I’m done! If the reviews are any indication, though, I am not going to be disappointed.

Kingdom Hearts III

To say that I have been waiting for this game would be an understatement. It has been six years since Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. That’s the same amount of time since Square Enix first announced this game. On top of that, it’s been nearly fourteen years since Kingdom Hearts II came out. So, I have been waiting for a long time.

I’m gonna get that game, then I’m going to play it until I beat it on the hardest difficulty. It’s as simple as that. And I hope that it is one of the best games that I have ever played, or I am going to feel an empty hole in my heart for the rest of my days.

Captain Marvel

First referenced in the post-credits scene of Avengers: Infinity War, she is going to be playing a big role in Avengers: Endgame. Before that happens though, Marvel is going to take us back to the origin of Captain Marvel.

Taking place in the 1990s, the movie is going to give us the origin story of the titular hero as she uncovers the secrets to her past as she protects Earth from an intergalactic war. It also shows more about the past of Nick Fury and how he came to know Captain Marvel. Plus, Phil Coulson will be coming back! He’s been plenty active in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but the last time he was on the big screen was in the original Avengers movie. This will be a welcome return.

With this being the only film left before Endgame, there’s a lot riding on this film. Knowing Marvel and Disney, I am not worried. It’s going to be weird seeing Blockbuster again, though.

Avengers: Endgame

Dear god, where do I even begin with this. There’s not enough time in the day. This is part two to the story that the MCU has been building up from since the very beginning. Everything we have seen, everything that has happened, has all led to this moment. Infinity War ended with the Avengers be completely defeated by Thanos as he wiped out half the universe. This movie is going to be about picking up the pieces and figuring out how to fix things. The stakes have never been higher.

I know that Thanos’ actions will be largely undone. The fact that there’s another Spider-Man film coming makes that clear. Still, there is no guarantee that not every hero is going to make it out of this movie alive, which makes it all the more agonizing to have to wait for. If you’ve read the comics this is based on, you can get a bit of an idea of how this might end, but I am still excited to find out.

This film is going to mark the end of the MCU as we know it, with a new status quo being set up afterwards. It’s the end of an era for Marvel. Perhaps the most bittersweet thing about this film is that it will be one of the final confirmed appearances of Stan Lee doing his cameo. Something in my gut told me that the story of Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet was always going to be Stan Lee’s final cameo, and I was right. It’s fitting that the finale to this stage of the MCU will include a final appearance behind one of the men who created Marvel. I think I might cry when I see him.

Game of Thrones Season 8

For nine years, Game of Thrones has shocked and captivated audiences around the world. I could spend an entire blog talking about how big the show has become. But the Song of Ice and Fire will be coming to its end in April 2019. And it is going to be one of the biggest events in television history.

So many questions are going through my head about the final season: who is going to live? Who will die? Will Westeros survive the White Walkers or not? Given the show’s history, I will not be surprised to see some of the remaining characters die, but we simply don’t know which ones will! Everyone is on the chopping block in the finale; literally everyone. While I wish for either Jon or Daenerys to make it out of the show alive, I am trying to make peace with the fact that they may not.

There’s only one thing I want more than anything in the final season: to see Cersei Lannister die. If she dies, I hope it’s by one of the following:

• Jaime Lannister kills her himself.
• Arya Stark kills her
• If she is pregnant, she dies giving birth to a dwarf.

While I’d love for her demise to be violent and painful (she deserves it), I’m hoping it’s option three for ironic reasons. The best kind of reasons. If Westeros freezes over, I’ll at least have the satisfaction of seeing her get what she deserves.

Star Wars: Episode IX

The new Star Wars Trilogy will be coming to an end in 2019. Disney is keeping a really tight ship in regards to that, though, so I don’t have anything to show of it. What I do know is that it takes place one year after Episode VIII and that it claims it will be the final chapter of the Skywalker saga. I don’t know about that, but if this is the finale to Star Wars as we know it, then it’s going to have to work extra hard.

I’ve been on the fence about the sequel trilogy since the beginning, to be honest. I thought that Return of the Jedi was already a great way to wrap up the story of the Skywalkers. That, and the franchise had been carried on by books, TV shows, and video games that spanned into the future of the original cast and thousands of years into the past. It felt like a waste to see most of that shoved to the side. So I have taken the sequel trilogy with a grain of salt.

I also didn’t like how they turned Luke into, in my own words, a whiny old man. He was almost the complete opposite of the Luke I watched and read about as a kid. I just hope that this is going to be good.

End of the Road

The end of the road is always a bittersweet moment, but one that we have to deal with, eventually. I have so many things to look forward to in 2019, and many of them involve endings to stories that I have followed for years. Mind you, they are not ending for good. Game of Thrones already has a prequel series planned. I think Square Enix will continue Kingdom Hearts someday. And I know that Disney is not going to give up on Star Wars or the MCU. They already have the next Spider-Man film set for July.

It’s going to be an interesting year for everyone, and I honestly can’t wait to see what 2019 brings us. So, from me to you, HAPPY NEW YEAR!