My Favorite Stuff of 2017

NOTE: This was supposed to be posted around New Years but I got super sick… I’m still getting over it actually… So here it is, a little half-assed because now that I’m finally getting through this cold, I want to move on to new things and not keep working on this old stuff haha. But here it is anyway. Enjoy!

It’s that time of year again. As I did last year, it’s time to look back at the things that kept me entertained in 2017. I sort of have enough music, TV and video-games this time to do proper lists, but I figured for the sake of consistency, I’ll do like I did last year and do my big Movies list, and then a separate overall list combining everything else. You can also check out 2016’s list for a refresher if you want, or just jump into my 2017 lists. Enjoy!

15 Things from 2017 That Kept Me Entertained (In No Particular Order)

• Nintendo Switch – The biggest non-movie thing that happened in 2017 for me was Nintendo’s insane comeback with the Switch. Who would have thought that 30 years after the classic NES originals in the Mario and Zelda series, that Nintendo would pretty much make the new best entries? The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey are two of the best video-games I’ve ever played. Period. The Mario game is just pure non-stop fun, and the Zelda game is a revelation. If it holds up when I eventually go back to play it again one day (and keep in mind I beat it with only 19% – yes, NINETEEN percent of the game completed), I might even call it the best game ever made. On top of that we also got the crazy Mario Vs Rabbids game, a bunch of other first-party Nintendo games that I didn’t even have that much time for, and some excellent third-party games like Steamworld Dig 2 and Blaster Master. The Nintendo Switch is just weird and unique enough to be Nintendo, and is the most fun video-game system to come along in a long time.
• Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – “The Nashville Sound” – The next album on this list, Ryan Adams’ “Prisoner” in any other year would have easily been my favorite album of the year, but Jason Isbell may have made the album of his career… Which is saying a lot when I considered his “Southeastern” album one of the best albums of the decade. The rock songs freaking rock and the sad songs are sad as hell. It’s poignant, every song is great. It’s just a perfect album and a hell of a surprise. 
• Ryan Adams – “Prisoner” – Not so much a surprise is how great Ryan Adams’ new album is. Along with his also released collection of B-Sides, this was my most listened to album of the year, and one of my favorites of my favorite solo-artist’s career. The song “Outbound Train” may possibly be my favorite song. He rules.
• The War On Drugs – “A Deeper Understanding” – Definitely my 3rd favorite album of the year… But to say that means I listened to it maybe a half dozen times because pretty much all I listened to were the previous two and podcasts haha. But this is a fantastic album.
• Nine Inch Nails – “Add Violence” – I would have stuck with just listing my Top 3 but I wanted to add NIN’s new EP because first of all it’s the first NIN album in a decade that I’ve continued to listen to on occasion after the first week of release (sorry Trent), and second of all, even though I had already been considering this long before these EPs came out, my new direction of planning on releasing EPs in 2018 is at least partially influenced by NIN’s new EP direction.
• Fargo – My favorite show of the year. I don’t get why people didn’t like Season 3 as much as previous seasons. It was FANTASTIC. All the best parts of a movie and all the best parts of this new age of Television combined. The best cast on TV. Everything about it was amazing.
• Vice Principals – Vice Principals was such a great series. As much as I hate to see it go, I think two seasons was the perfect length for this crazy story and insane characters.
• It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia – This show shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. I hope it’s on the air forever.
• Curb Your Enthusiasm – Finally, more Larry David. And he’s as great as ever. 
• GLOW – Hey, Marc Maron can act good! The show was great too. Can’t wait for Season 2!
• At Home With Amy Sedaris – It’s been too long since we’ve had a show with Amy Sedaris in the center. She is the freaking best. So funny.
• Episodes – The Series finale of Episodes. It’s not the best show, but I love it, and it was a perfect ending. 
• Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later – Also not the best show, but it’s still David Wain and crew being ridiculous. Such fun.
• American Horror Story: Cult – Last year I said that the season of American Horror Story was the first one I truly liked… Who would have thought I’d like two in a row? This was definitely the best season of the show.
• Facebook – I hate to give Facebook any credit because it’s a terrible thing and ruining all of our lives and I’m probably physically addicted… But man did I have fun on Facebook this year… Dammit…

And now on to the movies. I thought last year was a big year for movies but wow did I see a lot this year haha. It was a pretty great year too. Lots of truly amazing films. I’m not going to stop and talk about each one or anything like that, but rather list them all out, in order from Best to Worst, and then a separate list of movies that technically were 2016 movies but didn’t open in Las Vegas until 2017, and then a short list of movies from 2017 that I’ve been dying to see but aren’t open here yet.

1. mother!
2. War for The Planet of the Apes
3. Ingrid Goes West
4. Good Time
5. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri
6. The Big Sick
7. A Ghost Story
8. The Disaster Artist
9. The Florida Project
10. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
11. The Shape of Water
12. Logan
13. Thor: Ragnarok
14. Last Flag Flying
15. Alien Covenant
16. Wind River
17. Get Out
18. Brigsby Bear
19. Colossal
20. It
21. Lost In London
22. Baby Driver
23. Stronger
24. The Killing of a Sacred Deer
25. Free Fire
26. Wonder Woman
27. King Arthur
28. The Babysitter
29. Lady Bird
30. Power Rangers
31. Kingsman: The Golden Circle
32. Kong: Skull Island
33. Logan Lucky
34. It Comes At Night
35. The Meyerowitz Stories
36. Battle of the Sexes
37. The Lego Batman Movie
38. John Wick: Chapter 2
39. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
40. XXX: The Return of Xander Cage
41. Happy Death Day
42. Split
43. Wilson
44. Justice League
45. The Fate of The Furious
46. Detroit
47. Downsizing
48. Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle
49. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man Tell No Tales
50. Transformers: The Last Knight
51. Rough Night
52. The Great Wall
53. Snatched
54. American Made
55. The Glass Castle
56. Spider Man: Homecoming
57. Blade Runner 2049
58. The Mummy
59. The Hitman’s Bodyguard
60. The House
61. The Beguiled
62. Ghost In The Shell
63. Home Again
64. Atomic Blonde
65. American Assassin
66. A Cure For Wellness
67. All The Money In The World
68. The Belko Experiment
69. The Foreigner
70. Valerian
71. Annabelle: Creation
72. Suburbicon
73. Landline
74. Dunkirk
75. Life
76. Daddy’s Home 2
77. Fist Fight
78. LBJ
79. A Dog’s Purpose
80. Roman J Israel, Esq
81. Baywatch
82. The Dark Tower
83. All Eyes On Me

2016 Movies I saw: A Monster Calls, Live By Night, Silence, 20th Century Women, The Founder, Patriots Day, Jackie.

2017 Movies I didn’t get to see but I’d probably love: I, Tonya, Phantom Thread, The Post… a bunch more but I think it’s time to close up 2017 and move on! Haha.

Hope you enjoyed the listings. Here’s to a great 2017, and here comes a great 2018.

–

David Rosen is an award-winning music composer. He composes original music for films, commercials, jingles, video-games and all other kinds of media projects. He has a vast music library of original tracks available for licensing and is also available for custom compositions. Contact him on the ABOUT page for pricing and availability for your next project.

My Favorite Stuff of 2016

It’s that time of year again. “Best of lists” here we go! Actually this year I kind of got lazy and just did 2 lists… One is a list of every theatrically released movie I saw, in order from best to worst. And two is a list of other stuff I loved that came out this year from every area of entertainment. Let start with #2

15 Things From 2016 That Kept Me Entertained (In no particular order)

• The Raveonettes Anti-Album – Technically this album comes out in 2017, but every month of 2016 The Raveonettes released a new song, for the eventual album release in January 2017. It was a fun, exciting way to keep putting out new music, and it just so happens to be some of the best songs of their career as far as I’m concerned.
• Butch Walker – Stay Gold – I’ve loved Butch Walker since the days I used to work at Sony Music and this is probably his best release in almost 10 years. He rules and this album rules.
• Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide To Earth – Apparently I like country now. I blame Ryan Adams and Jason Isbell, but Sturgill Simpson is the most country album I’ve probably ever listened to and I love it.
• Inside – One of the most mind-blowing video-games ever made. It’s really no surprise since it’s the follow-up (sort of sequel but not really) to Limbo which is easily one of my Top 10 favorite video-games ever made. This game is insane and beautiful and haunting and I’ve been dying to play it for my 3rd time already…
• Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – The conclusion to the Uncharted series. It was a perfect ending. One of the best games in the series, and they really managed to tie it up perfectly. No game tells a story like Uncharted and this finale did not disappoint. Now lets hope they make more.
• Horace & Pete – Louis CK’s gamble of a TV series that was produced with his own money and released only on his own website. It is one-of-a-kind, hilarious and heartbreaking, and one of the best things I saw all year. Leave it to Louis to try something completely new and unlike anything else I’ve ever seen.
• Silicon Valley – A great new season to one of the best shows on TV.
• Ash Vs Evil Dead – Another of my favorite TV shows got a great new season as well. The season finale was a little bit of a let down, but I can’t wait to see where it goes in Season 3.
• Vice Principals – A new show from Danny McBride and Jody Hill. It started off… different and not quite what I was expecting. But then it got weirder and weirder and darker and darker and it’s just amazing. I can’t wait for the next season.
• Stranger Things – Honestly I’m a little burned out from Stranger Things-mania, but it really was a fun, exciting show. And the score definitely influences some of the synthier moments on my new album Head Like Fire.
• The People VS OJ Simpson – Who would have thought this mini-series would be so perfect and so compelling? Great performances and an insane amount of tension considered we all knew what would happen. This was a huge surprise and I loved it.
• American Horror Story: My Roanoke Nightmare – I don’t know that I ever truly liked American Horror Story. From the first season I’ve done nothing but complain about it, and I downright hated a few of the seasons. But this was definitely my favorite one and a really fun, inventive story made it one of the best TV moments of the year.
• The Night Of – Awesome show. I kind of hope it doesn’t come back though. It’s perfect as is. I think it is coming back. Ah, whatever. Great show.
• Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt – I love this show. I love everything about it. And I loved the new season.
• The Election – I don’t know if you heard, but there was a presidential election this year. My guy lost in the primaries. A con-artist won the whole thing. It was a major shit-show. But hey, I like to laugh and it was non-stop gold. Lets hope these next 4 years foster some great music and movies haha. And who knows… Maybe he won’t be so bad. Maybe…

And now, on to the movies. For me, movies are my year, and this was a pretty big year for movies for me. I saw a lot of them. And I managed to list them all out (not counting made-for-TV/Video movies or older movies that I saw for the first time). In order of how much I liked them. Here’s the list with no added descriptions or anything because it’s time to go make some New Years Eve snacks. Enjoy, and don’t tell me it was a bad year for movies! Every year is a great year for movies!

1. Swiss Army Man
2. 10 Cloverfield Lane
3. The Nice Guys
4. Anomalisa (Technically a 2015 Movie that didn’t open until 2016 here)
5. Nocturnal Animals
6. The Jungle Book
7. Manchester By The Sea
8. The Lobster
9. Hacksaw Ridge
10. La La Land
11. The Neon Demon (saw At home)
12. Moonlight
13. Sausage Party
14. Deadpool
15. Hail, Caesar!
16. Miss Sloane
17. Fences
18. American Honey
19. Green Room
20. Midnight Special
21. Lion
22. The Accountant
23. Loving
24. Don’t Breathe
25. Don’t Think Twice
26. Ghostbusters
27. Bloodfather
28. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
29. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (saw at home)
30. Neighbors 2 (Saw at home)
31. Allied
32. Passengers
33. Sully
34. The Witch
35. The Brothers Grimsby
36. Captain America: Civil War
37. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
38. The Girl on the Train
39. Arrival
40. Bridget Jones Baby (saw at home)
41. Doctor Strange
42. Hell or High Water
43. Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates
44. TMNT: Out of the Shadows
45. Bleed For This
46. Demolition
47. The Conjuring 2
48. Zoolander 2
49. Yoga Hosers (saw at home)
50. Everybody Wants Some
51. Independence Day: Resurgence
52. The Birth of a Nation
53. War Dogs (saw at home)
54. Mojin
55. Gods of Egypt (saw at home)
56. Suicide Squad
57. The Magnificent Seven
58. The Legend of Tarzan
59. Ben Hur

Movies I didn’t get to see that I plan on seeing ASAP: The Monster, Kubo, Jackie, Silence, The Founder… And I’m sure a ton more haha.

See you all next year!

–

David Rosen is an award-winning music composer. He composes original music for films, commercials, jingles, video-games and all other kinds of media projects. He has a vast music library of original tracks available for licensing and is also available for custom compositions. Contact him on the ABOUT page for pricing and availability for your next project.