As I’ve done for previous years on this site, I’m wrapping up the year with a nice bow by listing my most beloved experiences vs my most reviled experiences I’ve had in the different forms of entertainment media. 2019 was a wild year for me. Moving to a new home far outside of the region in which I grew up, the collapse of DagonDogs.com and the slow rebuilding of the site, some international travel, and some dramatic changes to my work-life balance have all contributed in some way to how this site now exists and to the content I’ve posted on it this year. As with previous years, I’ll be taking some time away from the site to work on some personal projects, but next year should hopefully not have any long breaks that require site rebuilding.

Without further delay, let’s get to the best and worst of 2019

Best Video Games I Played

Due to how busy this year has been and my lack of motivation for starting a new video game, I haven’t really played many new games this year. There’s certainly no shortage of new games coming out, or that have been out that I’d like to start, but I just haven’t found the time. Still, here’s what I’ve cobbled together as to top games I played this year.

Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Game of the Year Edition

Several years late to the game, I finally forced myself to play the Witcher games to completion. It’s not that I didn’t want to. I actually loved the first game back when it came out, read the books that had been translated to English at the time, and was extremely hyped for the second one before it was released—my cynicism had not yet overtaken my fandom for everything. Then, I got busy with school and work when the second game came out and I didn’t really have a computer that was powerful enough to run it well. Then, the third game came out and I still hadn’t started 2. However, this year I found the time, pushed through what I had been putting off, and played through 2 and 3. I certainly didn’t do everything you could do in these games, because I would never have that much time. Nonetheless, now that I’ve finally played The Witcher 3, I can see why this game is so beloved. There are a lot of small touches about it that work well together to make a stylistic cohesive package, with engaging, albeit simple, combat and exploration of the rich world of The Witcher. The story manages to remain interesting from beginning to end. The side quests are mostly engaging. The flavor text of items, spells, and monsters is all very enriching to the experience. The music is incredible. It’s a great game.

Still Playing

Dragon Ball: FighterZ - Review

I don’t know what it is about DBFZ, but it’s the fighting game I can’t put down. MK11 came out, it was solid, had an entertaining story, and lots of single-player content, but I fell off it hard and went right back to Dragon Ball. The mechanics work great for a scrub like myself to have a blast just experimenting with combos and taking my teams online to varying success. The game is getting stale with no significant changes other than some new characters this year, and it could really benefit from some big upgrades to the online play and core content, but I still love (and sometimes hate) this game.

HITMAN 2 - Review

With 2 new maps added to the game since it’s release and the steady stream of Elusive Targets every month, I don’t know when I’ll ever stop playing HITMAN 2. Maybe when HITMAN 3 comes out?

Bloodborne

Another game I’ve been putting off for a long time, Bloodborne is not my favorite of the Souls-style games, as much as I want it to be. There are some things that I simply cannot stand about this game. However, the art style, the ambiguous storytelling, and the overt nods to cosmic horror compelled me to see it through to its end. It’s my favorite in terms of style, look, and lore, but it also was the most frustrating.

Worst Games I Played

None. While I’ve certainly had some rage-induced moments playing Bloodborne and DBFZ this year—for reasons that I would argue are completely justified against the way the games were designed—I still think the games are well-made and fun enough that they don’t deserve to sit here. I also just haven’t had time this year to play games that seemed like they would only cause me pain.

Best Movies I Watched

Green Room - Review

Green Room is probably one of the scariest, tensest movies I’ve watched in a long time. I had already seen it before this year but actually took the time to watch it again to write a review for it, mainly because of how much this film does right. It takes a very realistic situation—which already makes it that much more tense than something out of an 80’s slasher flick—and makes it an intense struggle for a group of young punks who are attempting to escape a Neo-Nazi bar with their lives. Spoilers: it doesn’t work out well for all of them.

The Ritual - Review

This is easily the best Netflix horror movie I’ve seen. The Ritual surprised me in a lot of different ways and rarely disappointed me. It has solid pacing throughout most of the film and the characters manage to get you invested in their story before the horror really starts coming out. With some subtle creepy moments, juxtaposed against the wilder scenes towards the end, The Ritual is one of the few horror films I’ve seen this year that I gladly recommend.

Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse

All across the internet, most people (who have seen more Spider-Man movies than I have) say that this is their favorite one about Marvel’s iconic wall-crawler. I can see why. It’s another origin story, but for a different Spider-Man than we’re used to. It blends coming-of-age, teenage self-confidence issues, familial tension, and superhero action in ways that work immensely better than any of the other movies ever managed to achieve. I’m not the biggest fan of the protagonist, but I don’t think that this makes Into the Spiderverse any less successful at what it’s doing. It’s fast, fun, well-animated, and legitimately funny. Even if you don’t like superhero movies or animated movies, this is worth your time.

Worst Movies I Watched

These movies I almost entirely forgot I watched. I wouldn’t say I was disappointed by any of them, because I didn’t expect much. In fact, I have more of a vehement reaction to movies like Annihilation, Us, and Hereditary, but we’ll get to those in a second. These are just the movies I watched this year that were so bad they barely made an impact on me enough to even remember seeing them. Though, it also probably didn’t help I watched them all during plane rides…

Ready Player-One

I haven’t read the book on which this movie is based, but from those I know who did read it, the movie did a poor job of translating the story in a meaningful way. If the plot is even remotely similar, I can see why. This movie has a very convoluted plot, with holes that are stitched together with deus-ex machinas, requiring endless exposition and suspension of disbelief that would make most science-fiction anime appear simple and straightforward by comparison. Ready Player One relies heavily on its colorful special effects and its endless nostalgic references to other, better franchises. It all looks nice, but everything is hollow because it’s the worst kind of fan service. Every Delorean, Iron Giant, or other meaningless references to better movies and TV shows serve as reminders that you could be watching something much better than this soulless crap.

Aquaman

I haven’t seen many of the Marvel movies since The Avengers first came out. I’ve seen even fewer of the superhero movies on the DC side of the fence, Aquaman being one of the few. I don’t hate this movie, but I also don’t ever want to watch it again. It’s longer than it needs to be, the plot moves extremely slowly, and it seems a bit disjointed with how much it bounces around from one scene to the next. Yet, it has some cool-looking action sequences that are a spectacle to watch with some great fight choreography. Maybe someone can just take those clips and make a music video out of them and save everyone about two hours of their time.

Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald - Review

Crimes of Grindelwald01.jpg — Image: Warner Bros.

I’ve not been a big fan of the Fantastic Beasts franchise since the start, but the first sequel has only further instilled my disinterest. The best part of this whole film happens before the title card appears and it only goes downhill from there. It’s still a spectacle, but the lame characters, the lame dynamics between those characters, the forced sentimentality, and the weak plot devices all prevent it from being anything worth watching a second time.

Worst-Best & Best-Worst Movies

I felt the need to add this section here. I’ve seen very few bad movies that were even memorable enough to make me compelled to include them in this article. I also haven’t seen many movies that blew me away. Instead, where I’ve experienced the most emotion beyond “meh” was in the movies I saw this year that either exceeded my expectations or fell short of them.

The “worst-best” movies were films that were built up through zeitgeist and online praise to the point that even if the movie was well-made, it didn’t do enough for me. The “best-worst” movies, on the other hand, were films for which I had extremely low expectations, but weren’t so bad and ended up being a pleasant surprise.

“Good” Films That Fell Flat

Annihilation - Review

This HAS to be at the very top of the list—and would have only lost to Get Out if I had watched it this year—as one of the most hyped movies I watched that I ended up not liking. I was tempted to put this in the Worst category because of how much I disliked it, but considering the fact that so many people like this movie (a lot), and because much of my dislike was based on my overall disappointment, it made sense to put Annihilation in this section. I like cosmic horror (as if that wasn’t obvious already). I like slow-burn horror. I like experimental science fiction. I like movies that do creative things with color and cinematography. I do not like Annihilation. I find its characters astoundingly boring and vacuous. The mystery and reveal are not as interesting as the movie thinks it is. Aside from the cool colors and cinematography, and the moments that are slightly tense—which would be a lot more tense if I cared at all about the characters—this movie falls completely flat with me. Biggest disappointment of the year.

Hereditary - Review

1-19-2019 5-01-44 PM.jpg — Image: Warner Bros.

Hereditary is a good movie that is well-acted, well-shot, and creepy with some truly disturbing moments. I can see why people liked it so much. That being said, I found the main plot to be something of a convoluted let-down after the slowest of slow-burn horror films. I admire the film for its quality and for its individual moments of horror. Still, I was also waiting for when I would fall in love with it, waiting for when the characters would get me invested in their struggle, and waiting for when the plot would start to make sense. None of this ever really happened. So I applaud Hereditary’s finest moments but would prefer not to watch it again.

Us - Review

I don’t have any beef with Jordan Peele, I just don’t understand the unending adoration he gets for his movies. People are already attributing the “master of horror” title to him as a writer/director—putting him on the level of Wes Craven, John Carpenter, Toby Hooper, and George Romero, to name a few—after only two movies. I think Peele has an eye for creepiness and is able to portray that on the screen rather well, Get Out was a good movie, but let’s slow down on the torrent of praise. People were at least able to recognize that Us was not as good as his first, but it still got more praise than I thought it deserved. The last act is an anomalous constellation of plot holes and nonsensical exposition, tied together by a dumb final plot twist. Again, there are some good creepy moments, but the tension is released too early and Us loses its steam and sensibility the more it goes on.

Pleasant Surprises

Destination Wedding - Review

I’m no apologist for rom-coms, but I admit I was intrigued by the first trailer of this movie when I initially saw it. A rom-com for cynics, it appeared to be. A lack of stellar reviews didn’t give me much hope for it, but upon seeing it for myself, I was still thoroughly entertained. It’s nothing close to perfect, but it does a few things really well and I was laughing a lot more than I expected. Maybe I was in the right state of mind at the time. Maybe I won’t like it as much the next time I decide to watch it. For what it was, however, I had a good time.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters - Review

This movie is dumb, but so are most Godzilla movies, with the exceptions of the original, the 1984 remake, and Shin-Godzilla, which all take the nature of Godzilla more seriously. King of the Monsters is as fan service as it gets, with cameos from all sorts of classic Toho monsters to do battle with, or alongside, Godzilla. The acting is serviceable, with a great deal of sass from Charles Dance and emotional brevity from Ken Watanabe to make up for the cheesier performances. This is also one of the prettiest movies I watched this year. The color palette and cinematography are great. Not to mention, there are plenty of kaiju battles to fill the time.

Birdbox - Review

1-19-2019 4-49-17 PM.jpg — Image: Warner Bros.

Plot holes abound, Birdbox is a mediocre movie that is greatly improved by Sandra Bullock’s performance and the obvious decision to not show the monsters. If I were to compare it to anything else, it’s like The Mist meets Fiend Without a Face. Its disjointed editing, archetypal characters, and reliance on your ability to suspend your disbelief make Birdbox a B-movie with a Netflix budget. I can’t easily recommend this to any viewer who’s interested in cosmic horror, but if you approach it with tempered expectations, it might entertain you.

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers - Review

11-21-2019 9-21-02 PM.jpg — Image: Warner Bros.

This is a cheap, trashy, slasher movie from the ‘80s. Need I say more? Sleepaway Camp II is cheesy and low-budget, but it has a bit of charm to it that makes it pretty entertaining as yet another 80’s time capsule. Pamela Springsteen, while not the best actress, brings a lot of charm and makes this movie a lot more watchable than it has any right being. It’s a dumb, bad movie, but I laughed and was entertained.

Best Music I Listened to

Opiate, Undertow, Aenima, Lateralus, 10,000 Days - Tool

I’ve been listening to Tool for years, but 2019 was the first year that their albums were finally put on streaming services. Guess what? Those albums are still pretty good!

Phanerzoic I: Palaeozoic - The Ocean

The Ocean is a band that was revealed to me a few years back and they quickly became one of my favorite progressive metal bands out there. Each album swings back and forth in tone: from incredibly heavy bass lines and guttural screams to melodic, melancholic harmony ballads, all without losing their complexity and intensity. The Ocean has a distinct sound to their music, which can be more easily identified in their more recent albums. Phanerzoic I is a continuation of the sound they’ve been exploring. If you already liked The Ocean, this is more of what you want in the way you want it.

A Moon-Shaped Pool - Radiohead

I’ve been listening to Radiohead since high school, but I’ll readily admit that I actually like their more recent work over what they were doing in the ’90s and early 2000s. A Moon-Shaped Pool is another mostly-somber experience the band has become known for, with the occasional moment of intensity like the first track, Burn the Witch. It’s Radiohead. This album isn’t going to change your mind about the band, but if you like what they’ve been doing over the past decade, then this should be more of what you’re looking for.

Superwoke - Steaksauce Mustache

If you’ve never heard of Steaksauce Mustache, there’s no better time than now to look them up on YouTube and see for yourself why this band deserves your attention. Wild, weird, and inventive, I’ve not seen a better performance by a metal band in a small-town deli in my life.

Worst Music I Listened to

Fear Inoculum - Tool

I already said my piece about why I think Tool’s new album that came out this year was a letdown for me. Perhaps, if the tradition I have with the band’s music holds true, I might grow to like, or even love it, given enough time. For now, however, I think this album is dull, needlessly long, and uninspired.

Books I’ve Read or Am Reading Again

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Probably the best book I finished this year. I own multiple copies of this book, for some reason, but I had never bothered to sit down and read it until late 2018. It is a classic for a reason. The horror, the intrigue, and the characters are all extremely compelling. Written in the style of journal entries and news articles, it reads differently than you might expect but is still interesting enough to move the story along at a steady pace. If you like horror, there’s no reason not to read this and Frankenstein.

1984 by George Orwell

I read this a couple of years back and I’ve picked it up again because, unlike all the people who read it in high school, I actually really enjoy this book. It’s thoughtful, well-written, and serves as a scary-looking glass into our own future if the thought police continue to get their way. It might be taught in public schools in California, but considering the content, how public schools operate these days, and how most people in the general media or public positions use the term “Orwellian” I get the impression that the lessons of 1984 are lost in the process.

The Time of Contempt (Witcher book 2) by Andrzej Sapkowski

During my drive to play through the Witcher games, I decided to pick up the books again, now that they’ve been translated into English. Of the ones I’ve read so far, I’d say that Time of Contempt is my favorite due to its balance of action, world-building, and intrigue. The books are a more high-fantasy experience to A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones), with plenty of back-stabbing and political posturing, fewer characters to keep track of, and a lot less subtlety. They move quickly, are easy to read, and give fans more Geralt, which is always nice.

Books I Don’t Recommend

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep by Philip K Dick

The inspiration for one of my favorite movies, Blade Runner, is a struggle to get through. Phillip K. Dick was really good at coming up with unique ideas for his sci-fi stories. However, he wasn’t great at the part where he had to convey those ideas with words on the page. The story is difficult to follow and the characters’ behavior is bizarre in certain areas. You can see why the story would be so influential with the various big ideas that are vaguely explored, like what it means to be human, how important are memories, and how we perceive the world. There are even moments of brilliance in Dick’s prose that gave me hope I would enjoy it by the end. When I finally finished it, though, I found that I didn’t care much for it at all.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

I have tried, several times, to read this book. I simply cannot do it. Over 200 chapters long, I made it into the mid-twenties before I called it quits, again. And guess what? I still hadn’t even gotten to the part where Ishmael and Queequeg go out on the ocean. Herman Melville was an author of an era who told his stories to give insight into people, their jobs, and their culture. He also got paid by the word. So his work tends to run on, and on, and on. His writing is perfectly capable, it’s too bad what he’s writing is so long-winded and dull. Do you need to know the details about a Rhode Island port town; how it’s configured; what the church sermons sound like; who gives the sermons; who goes to the sermons; what Quakers are doing there; whether a guy named Ishmael develops a somewhat homoerotic relationship with a headhunter overnight and needs to break a door down to rescue him from himself for no apparent reason? Considering the fact that I thought this book was about a vengeful and deranged ship captain on a quest to murder a white whale, I’m going to say: NO!

Seasons Greetings!

That’s going to do it for the year-end wrap-up! For those who have been coming to DagonDogs.com and enjoying the articles since before our unfortunate destruction and rebirth, thank you for continuing to give this site a reason to exist besides just an outlet for my inner thoughts. For those who have only just discovered this site, there’s a good 5+ years of content in the archives to read through at your leisure. Thanks for your support, happy holidays, and see you next year!

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