Blogocentric Formulations

June 2023 Watch List

To qualify for my Watch List every month, the following has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. So if I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish.


Movies

          Avatar: The Way of Water
          Elemental
          Fast X
          The Flash
          The Little Mermaid (2023)
          Shazam: Fury of the Gods
          Transformers: Rise of the Beasts


Television

          Never Have I Ever (Season 4)
          Secret Invasion
          Succession (Season 3)
          Succession (Season 4)


I finally watched Avatar: The Way of Water and found it exactly like the first movie... visually beautiful, but boring as hell from a character and story perspective. At over three hours, it was just way too long with not enough going on to keep my interest. I had to watch it in installments just to get through it all. Elemental, on the other hand, was an incredibly charming romance story from Pixar. I honestly don't know why it's getting so much hate and being called a bomb; it's delightful. Fast X and The Flash and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts were all fine but probably not something I'm going to watch again. The Little Mermaid was probably the best live action update Disney has done to date, but I'm not sure I'll watch that again either. And Shazam: Fury of the Gods was truly terrible.

I'm excited that Secret Invasion is finally out in the world; I think it's a pretty solid show and I love it when Marvel does something in the political thriller space. I also finally finished up Succession which I thought ended well, but wasn't quite as amazing as so many other people seem to think. Ultimately, it was a great character drama about flawed people who can't get out of their own way, but there wasn't much more to it, IMO. Never Have I Ever, however, was an absolute delight and did what Succession didn't... it grew and developed its characters and created a satisfying resolution to all of their character arcs. Never Have I Ever is probably one of my favorite streaming series in recent years; it's incredibly funny and heartfelt, especially in the later seasons.


TOP PICK: Never Have I Ever (Season 4)