2017年度影视剧、图书盘点。
It is the second-to-last day of 2017. Happy New Year to everyone reading this!
Annual leftovers means reviewing the movies, TV shows, and books from this year that I have not already covered in my articles and programs. Mostly these are recommendations of good shows, books, and movies, plus a little light grumbling.
Let me take stock of my own year first.
This year I threw myself into the audio self-media business. I made 29 episodes of the free Psychopunk and 53 episodes of the paid New Psychology Knowledge Course. I also interpreted four books on Ximalaya Book Club. That made more than eighty episodes in total. Add a film review called Once There Was an Uncle, and that is my entire output for 2017.
This was basically my breakout year. I hope I explode even harder next year, so stay tuned.
I will not repeat the movies and books already reviewed or introduced in those programs and articles.
Let us start with TV series. TV and movies have given me completely opposite feelings over the years. Movies bring far more disappointment than surprise; TV brings one pleasant surprise after another. British and American TV have produced so many excellent works that even many shows tagged as masterpieces are still waiting in line because I have not had time to watch them.
Since this is an annual leftovers ceremony, let me present them as awards.
Best TV Series of the Year
Rick and Morty Rick and Morty
The show aired Season 3 this year, but I recommend all three seasons, for life. I watched the whole thing on my knees. Almost every episode combines the ideas and wild imagination of a top-tier science-fiction movie with top-tier venomous satire, parody, and meme play. The creators brains are so strange that ordinary mortals like us cannot hope to reach them.
Even in this age of divine shows raining from the sky, Rick and Morty is a god-tier show among god-tier shows.
Most Imaginative TV Series of the Year
Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency Season 1 Dirk Gentlys Holistic Detective Agency Season 1
The show finished Season 2 this year. Season 2 was botched, and the show has now been canceled. Unless a miracle happens, there probably will not be a Season 3.
The first season I recommend was actually from last year. There have been too many good shows in recent years. This one has enough imagination to have no friends, yet somehow only average ratings abroad, and hardly anyone in China seems to have watched it. Missing it would be a real shame.
Each season tells a self-contained story, so feel free to watch Season 1. It has a beginning and an end. The tiny cliffhanger only leads into the new story in Season 2, so ignore it.
Most Blood-Pumping TV Series of the Year
Stranger Things Season2 Stranger Things Season 2
Why call it the most blood-pumping series? Because it is so tense and thrilling, especially the huge climax in Episode 6. My adrenaline practically sprayed out, okay?
Last year, Stranger Things Season 1 won universal acclaim. Season 2 basically kept up the standard, which is remarkable for an American show, where quality so often falls apart after too many seasons.
Most Heart-Pounding TV Series of the Year
Black Mirror: SanJunipero Black Mirror, Season 3, Episode 4: San Junipero
After Netflix in the United States took over Black Mirror, many longtime fans complained that the quality had fallen sharply.
I disagree.
I think the first two seasons of Black Mirror have been mythologized in everyones memory. They were not divine in every episode either; only a few remain in our minds now.
The third season still has outstanding episodes. The most heart-poundingly terrifying for me was Episode 4, San Junipero. It may be the only episode in the series to end like a comedy, but that happy ending left me cold all over, much more than the frightening, absurd, and tragic endings elsewhere in the show.
Next up: movies.
Best Film of the Year
Night Is Short, Walk on Girl Night Is Short, Walk on Girl
Every character, twist, beat, and frame in this movie is intensely—neurotic. Neurotic, hyper-energized movies bursting with wild ideas have always been my favorites.
Best Film of the Year for Soothing OCD
The award is a tie—
Starring the expressionless Keanu Reeves:
John Wick: ChapterTwo John Wick: Chapter 2
Starring the expressionless Ben Affleck:
The Accountant The Accountant
Besides both leading men having frozen faces, the key thing these movies share is: “If you can shoot someone in the head, never shoot anywhere else.”
The shots between the eyebrows are enough to give anyone with OCD a full-blown climax.
A few words on each:
The Accountant is a 2016 film. The plot is ordinary, but the action had me reaching a climax. It is probably the best gun-battle action movie I have seen in recent years.
Beyond the headshots, the most fun thing about John Wick: Chapter 2 is the killer universe built by the writers and director. It has an underground society of assassins, with rules, traditions, and ecosystems. This killer universe is ten thousand times more fun than the Marvel Universe.
Best “Whoa, They Can Film It Like That?” Movie of the Year
Get Out Get Out
The core story resembles a few older horror films, but the movie has a wonderfully interesting premise. Mix the two together and the chemistry appears. My reaction was: “Whoa, a story can be written like that?”
Most Regrettable Film of the Year
Legend of the Demon Cat
The regret is that the movie had so many good things, yet casually wasted them in a story whose basic logic does not hold together.
I really do not know what Chen Kaige was thinking. He spent a billion yuan building a Tang city, then six years waiting for its trees to grow. Those real locations and the outstanding production design genuinely gave us a glimpse of High Tang splendor.
After so much thought went into the art, with a good cast and even mostly careful dialogue, why not spend a little more thought on the script?
Should I start a side business checking Chinese directors scripts for logical holes? I was famous for powerful logical reasoning when I wrote film reviews, you know (blush~~).
Now for books.
Best Book of the Year
From the New World by Yusuke Kishi
The best manga I have read in recent years is Hajime Isayama Attack on Titan. My three analyses of Attack on Titan were at least a small contribution to the Titan fandom.
After reading From the New World this year, I found that all the key background ideas in Attack on Titan—written for you two thousand years from now, the low-tech utopia inside the walls, the hidden high-tech world outside, the descendants of demons, and slaughtered humans—were borrowed from From the New World.
From the New World reaches a kind of literary completeness. Almost every unexpected twist has been foreshadowed earlier. Every detail that feels wrong on the first reading is a clue. The second half rises peak after peak, with twists everywhere, always surprising yet completely logical. This reading experience is incredibly satisfying!
Finally, from the nonfiction and fiction I read this year, let me choose one best book from each category:
Best Nonfiction Book of the Year
The Story of the Romans Books 4~5 The Age of Caesar (Volumes I & II)by Nanami Shiono
The reason is simple: Caesar, the greatest badass among the greatest badasses in human history. His life was too legendary to miss.
I do not sleep well and have trouble falling asleep. For a while I listened to The Story of the Romans before bed to help me sleep. Roman names all sound like XX-us, so I got dizzy and fell asleep. But these two books about Caesar made me more awake the longer I listened. They were more exciting than a novel, so I had to skip them before bed.
Best Fiction Book of the Year
The Longest Day in Chang An by Ma Boyong
May auspiciousness spare us all!
Ma Boyong is a once-in-a-century genius. He transplanted the American TV series 24 whole and intact into Chang An during the High Tang, with no awkwardness at all.
In 24, frontline field agents often communicate in real time with the command center far in the rear.
In American TV this uses communications equipment, GPS, and satellite images. The fun part is that The Longest Day in Chang An also has real-time communication between front and rear. Ma Boyong imagined a watchtower network: the counterterrorism department communicates through sentry posts and flag signals across Chang An. Even the hacker from 24 has a counterpart in this book.
Ma Boyong has formidable historical research skills and fills the book with details of Chang An. If Legend of the Demon Cat let us glimpse High Tang splendor, The Longest Day in Chang An lets us smell its everyday bustle. That earthy bustle surrounds the exaggerated fiction so neatly that the real and invented never feel jarring.
That is all.
Words｜ Zhichao Wei
Editor｜Wang Xiaowei
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