GAVIN HIGNIGHT
@gavinhignight
| gavinhignight.com
Best Movies: Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch
Best TV Shows: Walking Dead, Bob’s Burgers, Nick TMNT (I might be biased…)
Best Songs: Raveonettes ‘Killer In The Streets’
Best Albums: Sir Sly ‘You Haunt Me’, Johnny Two-Bags ‘Salvation Town’
Most overrated thing about 2014? Godzilla 2014 Film
Most underrated thing about 2014? Live Die Repeat aka Edge of Tomorrow starring Tom Cruise
Thing that you were most excited about in 2014? Bif Bang Pow Twilight Zone retro figures, NECA announcing the “Mego Style” Snake Plissken Action Figure.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2014? The 12th Doctor Series Premiere of Doctor Who, Funko Reaction Snake Plissken “Kenner style” action figure
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2015? Honestly… that 2014 is behind us. As for pop culture… I hear there is a Star Wars movie coming out…
Gavin Hignight writes the column, Message From The Moonbase, for Forces of Geek.
CHARLES J. BASERAP
Best Movies: Captain America: Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, X-Men: Days of Future Past
Best TV Shows: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Arrow, Flash, Gotham, Sleepy Hollow, Blacklist, Brooklyn Nine Nine
Best Books (fiction): a re-reading of Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy is always an adventure!
Best Songs: I’ve been on a fierce Dream Theater kick, so really, anything by them from Awake onwards!
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Way too many to choose from, but Snyder’s Batman has been outstanding and his Wytches is already a thrill. The Valiant line keeps getting better each month and whatever Hickman has in store for Secret Wars, I’m so there!
Most overrated thing about 2014? People. They continue to be annoying. :-p Also, the new run in Batgirl.
Most underrated thing about 2014? Me. Clearly, I’m not talked about nearly enough. 🙂
Thing that you were most excited about in 2014? The birth of my son, Lex, on January 3rd and beginning a new job with Lockheed Martin in August along with a return to the fold of FOG!
Thing that disappointed you most in 2014? Again, people. Monday morning quarterbacks that jump on emotions rather than reason and make things worse than they should made me leave social networking, possibly for good.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2015? Lex turns one, Ana turns six, and hopefully it’s a better year overall than 2014. I ask for so little!
Charles J. Baserap writes the column, Danger Rooms, for Forces of Geek.
LILY FIERRO
Best Movies: Jimmy P: The Psychoanalysis of a Plains Indian, Norte – the End of History, Under the Skin, Exhibition
Best Television: Rick & Morty, Black Jesus, Maron, The Eric Andre Show, The Regular Show
Best Comic Books/GN: Ten Grand Volume One by J. Michael Straczynski, Doctors by Dash Shaw, Shutter by Joe Keatinge and Leila Del Duca, Harvey Kurtzman’s The Jungle Book (restoration), Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson, Satellite Sam by Matt Fraction
Most Overrated Thing About 2014: The triumphing of films about narcissistic upper-middle class men and women inflicting their misery on people around them
Most Underrated of 2014: Return of open and interesting discussions about faith as seen by the actions of Pope Francis and the existence of a television show like Black Jesus.
Most Excited About in 2014: Doctors by Dash Shaw (graphic novel)
Most disappointing of 2014: Tie between: Snowpiercer and ODY-C written by Matt Fraction
Most Excited for in 2015: Mad Max: Fury Road, The chance to see Hong Sang-soo’s Hill of Freedom or Lav Diaz’s From What is Before, Ten Grand Volume Two, Cartoons For Victory, Grave Business and Other Stories
Lily Fierro is a contributor to Forces of Geek.
MARK WENSEL
@profwagstaff-42 | profwagstaff.com (returning soon)
Best Movies: Jodorowsky’s Dune, The Lego Movie, Grand Budapest Hotel, The Wind Rises, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Cheap Thrills, Snowpiercer, Life Itself, Boyhood, God Help The Girl, Birdman, Rosewater, The Imitation Game, Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Best Books (non-fiction): Dr Mutter’s Marvels by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz
Best Songs: Mystery Skulls: ‘Ghost’, Dum Dum Girls: ‘Are You OK?’, Future Islands: ‘Like The Moon’, Angel Olsen: ‘Hi-Five’, Bruce Springsteen w/ Tom Morello: ‘The Ghost Of Tom Joad’, St Paul & The Broken Bones: ‘Call Me’, St Vincent: ‘I Prefer Your Love’, Warpaint: ‘Love Is To Die’,
Weird Al Yankovic: ‘Jackson Park Express’
Best Albums: ‘Turn Blue’ by The Black Keys, ‘Forever’ by Mystery Skulls, ‘Singles’ by Future Island, Warpaint (self-titled), ‘Too True’ by Dum Dum Girls, ‘Burn Your Fire For No Witnesses’ by Angel Olsen, St Vincent (self-titled), ‘Songs Of Innocence ‘ by U2 (THERE! I said it! I actually really liked it, even though I didn’t get it for free).
Best Music Video:
There’s really only one new video that I paid a lot of attention to this year…even with Weird Al’s onslaught of awesome videos; ‘Ghost’ by Mystery Skulls
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Nebraska, 12 Years A Slave, Inside Llewyn Davis, The Punk Singer
SEAN IZAAKSE
@seanizaakse | DeviantArt
Best Movies: Captain America The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, Edge of Tomorrow, Lucy, Veronica Mars
Best TV Shows: The Flash, Arrow, Big Bang Theory, Parks and Recreation, Castle, New Girl
Best Video Game: Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Assassin’s Creed Black Flag, LEGO Marvel
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Moon Knight, Daredevil, BPRD, Batman, Invincible, Guardians of the Galaxy
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Captain America The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Hobbit Desolation of Smaug
Most underrated thing about 2014? Everything that Valiant puts out.
Thing that you were most excited about in 2014? Captain America The Winter Soldier, NYCC
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2015? Avengers: Age of Ultron movie
Sean Izaakse is the co-creator of the comic book Stray with Vito Delsante, which ships this month from Action Lab
STEVEN SEGAL
Best Movies:
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Eschewing the gung-ho WWII optimism of The First Avenger, the stark (pardon the pun) modern-day sequel is a spiritual successor to the bleak political conspiracy thrillers of the 1970s. It’s also one of the most intense PG-13-rated movies I’ve ever seen, with a considerable body count and a high level of realistic if relatively bloodless gun violence rarely depicted in “superhero” flicks. Superbly designed and executed, the movie moves like a freight train from one breathless action set piece to the next, while taking just enough time to add texture to its compelling characters, some of whom we’ve already seen in a half dozen other Marvel movies by now. The plot’s surprising spoiler/twist—“Heil, Hyrda!”—paints the Marvel Cinematic Universe into a tricky corner that I’m eager to see explored further in Phase 3.
- Guardians of the Galaxy – Not since the first Iron Man has a Marvel movie so successfully launched a superhero franchise accessible to—and immediately adored by—even the most virgin viewers completely oblivious to the source material. This is terrific popcorn entertainment with an assured balance of piquant humor, genuine human emotion and galaxies-hanging-in-the-balance derring-do, performed by a likable gang of misfits and supported by some of the most gorgeously conjured visual effects witnessed since Avatar.
- Interstellar – Christopher Nolan’s IMAX-sized wormhole saga adds a thought-provoking verse to the cinematic space opera genre, in turns a poignant love story between fathers and daughters and an enthralling glimpse of the Great Beyond. Like all of Nolan’s movies, this one is an intricate clockwork of technical virtuosity, with wondrous cinematography and a senses-teasing soundscape, and with a production design that favors reality-based practical effects over CGI fakery. The distribution of the movie on film was itself a minor yet symbolic cause célèbre for preservationists and lovers of celluloid who refuse to allow the format to completely fade away.
- Into the Woods – Rob Marshall’s lush adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim stage musical encapsulates everything I love about playfully perverted storybook tales and larger-than-life theater spectacles that translate uniquely to the silver screen. The casting is pitch-perfect—particularly Meryl Streep, who chews up the splendiferous scenery and proves to be a wickedly good Diva. Having not seen the stage production, I’ll withhold comment on the apparent discrepancies in the film adaptation, but will happily return to this particular cinematic Neverland again and again for repeated viewings.
- Birdman – As an aging movie star desperate to prove his relevance as a stage actor, Michael Keaton delivers his juiciest and most heartrending performance in years. Whether the film falls on its face with a skid or soars to dizzying heights on wings depends not only on your love for the former Batman and affinity for behind-the-scrim theater comedies, but also on your tolerance for both the restraints of the director/co-writer Alejandro González Iñárritu’s uninterrupted camera shot technique and the maddening intrusions of the film’s incessant drum score.
Steven Segal writes the column, Geek Spasm, for Forces of Geek
KEVIN CAFFERTY
@kcafferty
Best Movie: Homemakers
Best TV Show: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Best Book: Viv Albertine, Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys
Best Song: Taylor Swift, ‘Shake It Off’
Best Album: Laura Cantrell, ‘No Way There from Here’
Best Comic Book: ‘The Wicked and the Divine’ by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie
Best Graphic Novel: ‘The Love Bunglers’ by Jaime Hernandez
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2015? A Star Wars movie that may not be terrible.
Kevin Cafferty is a contributor to Forces of Geek
GENEROSO FIERRO
Best Movies: Jimmy P: The Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian, Norte: The End of History, Winter Sleep, Under The Skin, Night Moves, Exhibition
Best TV Shows: Rick and Morty, Black Jesus, Maron
Best Books (fiction): Someone Else’s Skin by Sarah Hilary (superb crime thriller-contains some of the most disturbing pages I read all year)
Best Books (non-fiction): Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China by Evan Osnos (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) (China is headed for a fall, here’s why)
Best Video Game: D4 by Hidetaka Suehiro for Xbox One (SWERY steps up Deadly Premonition)
Best Songs: Spirit Kid: ‘Playing Cupid’
Best Albums: So Cow: ‘The Long Con’
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Doctors by Dash Shaw (great premise, fully delivered)
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: WKRP in Cincinnati Complete Series with almost all of the original music (finally after 32 years!), Alain Robbe-Grillet: Six Films 1963-1974 on BFI (from the writer of Last Year of Marienbad comes six visionary films, highlighted by his masterpiece, Trans-Europ Express, Sgt. Bilko-The Phil Silvers Show Complete Series (Phil Silvers was a genius), Safe by Todd Hayes on Criterion (one of the best films of the 1990s, finally gets its due), The Shooting/Ride in the Whirlwind by Monte Hellman on Criterion (two brilliant, rarely seen westerns from the director of Two Lane Blacktop)
Most overrated thing about 2014? TIE..
Boyhood by Richard Linklater (basically its a three hour episode of a 90s family drama with underwhelming acting from all four leads. I swear if one more person tells me that it’s an achievement because it took twelve years to make, I will spew).
Snowpiercer: Critics approval of this bad joke seemed more motivated by their hatred for the Weinsteins, who controlled the film’s distro) than artistic merit. A mediocre French graphic novel, translated into English by a director who speaks neither language. Gee, maybe that’s why the dialog is abysmal?
Most underrated thing about 2014? Jimmy P: The Psychoanalysis of a Plains Indian. When one of the best directors of the last twenty years (Arnaud Desplechin) releases a film, it should be at least be reviewed by some of the nation’s critics. My pick for the best film of 2014 got a limited distribution and went virtually unnoticed by critical eyes here in the US. I guess they were too busy watching the Battle Royale rip off Hunger Games episode #473.
Thing that you were most excited about in 2014? Under The Skin by Jonathan Glazer. His previous two films, Sexy Beast and Birth were smart, phenomenal works but quite a long time ago. That said, my excitement level for Under The Skin was outrageously high, but my expectations were met. A brilliant film that gives as much a nod to Roeg’s The Man Who Fell To Earth as it does to Performance.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2014? Snowpiercer again. Bong Joon-ho is an excellent filmmaker (The Host, Mother) but like his compatriot, Chan-wook Park, who floundered with his US debut, Stoker he should’ve just stayed in his own country and operated in a language he can understand. Add Bong to the list of foreign directors like Emir Kusterica and Wong Kar Wai who should have never made a film in Hollywood.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2015? High-Rise, the new film by the always daring Ben Wheatley adapted from the dystopian J.G. Ballard novel, Season Two of Rick and Morty, and Serpents In The Cold, the long-awaited Boston crime novel by Douglas Graham Purdy.
Generoso Fierro is a contributor to Forces of Geek.
DIRK MANNING
DirkManning.com
Best Movie: Rarely has a day gone by where I haven’t thought about The Babadook since the night I watched it. It’s an amazing and very thought-provoking film with the two leads providing some of the best acting I’ve seen committed to film in years. A must-see film, even for those who don’t normally like horror films, as its raw power truly transcends the typical trappings of the genre.
TV Show: Does NXT on the WWE Network count?
Best Albums: ‘Bloodstone and Diamonds’ by Machine Head and ‘.5: The Gray Chapter’ by Slipknot have dominated my listening time since they’ve been released.
Best Music Videos: The videos for ‘Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel by Behemoth, ‘The Devil in I’ by Slipknot, and ‘Now We Die’ by Machine Head are the only three videos that made a lasting impression on me in 2014.
Best Comic Books / Graphic Novels: Wytches, The Goon, Fatale, East of West and Blacksad: Amarillo were all examples of how to tell great stories in comics in 2014.
Best Blu-ray/DVD Release: Nightbreed: The Director’s Cut was finally released this year — and it was glorious!
Most overrated thing about 2014? Social Media used as a Bully Pulpit… with an emphasis on the word “bully.”
Most underrated thing about 2014? The spreading success of so many smaller, regional comic conventions across the USA, especially in the Midwest.
Thing that you were most excited about in 2014? The release of Tales of Mr. Rhee: “Karmageddon” from Devil’s Due Publishing and the rabid response it’s been getting from those who have been reading it.
Thing that disappointed you most in 2014? The abundance of comic book media coverage given to corporate comic events to the detriment of smaller (but no less worthy of coverage) publishers and creators… and, on a completely separate note, the all-too-frequent use of the term “mansplaining” across social media (especially Twitter) by people who should know better.
Thing that you’re most looking forward to in 2015? Writing and releasing more Tales of Mr. Rhee, attending even more comic conventions, and continuing to live the dream…
Dirk Manning is the writer/creator of Tales of Mr. Rhee (Devil’s Due Publishing), Nightmare World (Image Comics), and Write or Wrong: A Writer’s Guide To Creating Comics (Caliber) among other works. He lives on the road and his adventures are detailed across the Internet via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @DirkManning as well as www.DirkManning.com. Cthulhu is his homeboy.
