Top Pop Culture Moments of 2017!

It's a new year, so let's reflect on 2017's best pop culture moments! This list will cover films, television, and games from January to the end of December, so there will be spoilers! Consider yourself warned! 

The list will be numbered, but it's all arbitrary--numbers just make things easier! 

1. Logan: Laura's big reveal

We knew going in that X-23 would be making her film debut in Wolverine's last outing. What we didn't know was how amazing it was going to be. The film itself is full of heartbreak and real emotion. It's pretty hard not to cry during several of the film's more emotional moments. On the bright side, it was pretty hard not to cheer when Laura popped her claws for the first time, and even harder not to when she showed off her talons.

You can watch the scene here. 

2. Wonder Woman: No Man's Land

If you've seen the movie, you already knew that this would be on the list. In this moment, this wonderful moment, Wonder Woman is fully realized. This scene shows perfectly who she is, and what she fights for. I had goose bumps watching this scene in theatres, and I felt a similar thrill watching it again at home.

You can watch the scene here (and I really think you should).

3. Game of Thrones: Loot Train Attack

Picking a single moment from season 7 of Game of Thrones was a hard thing to do. There were several scenes that were in contention, but the loot train attack won out in the end. This was the first time that the dragons were truly and fully unleashed upon Dany's enemies, and the battle where the Lannisters found out what their new enemy was capable of. And to be frank, their new enemy was way more capable than them. Fun side note: HBO broke the world record for most stuntpeople on fire for this scene! 

You can watch the scene here. 

4. Mass Effect Andromeda: Arriving in Helios

Say what you want about the latest entry in the Mass Effect franchise, but that opening scene and mission was epic. The hopeful colonists arriving in a new galaxy only to find out nothing is how it's supposed to be, and no contact from the other ships? Everything really felt hopeless, and that feeling only grew when Alec Ryder, your characters father, and humanity's Pathfinder, died. Alone, leaderless, and trapped in another galaxy? This was a huge shake up to the franchise. 

The whole thing takes a fair amount of time to play through, so instead I'll leave the trailer here, and a scene with one of my favourite lines here. 

5. Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2: Yondu's Sacrifice

Volume 2 was all about family. Peter Quill finally met his biological father (who turned out to be a dick), and then realized that Yondu had been his dad this entire time. As Yondu himself put it: "He may have been your father, boy, but he wasn't your daddy." Volume 2 was full of emotional beats, and I almost went with Yondu's funeral, but I feel like his sacrifice stands out just a little more. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need a tissue for an unrelated reason. 

You can watch the scene here. 

6. Wolfenstein The New Colossus: Starting the Second American Revolution

Wolfenstein takes place in an alternate history where the Nazis won WWII. Not only did they win, they conquered the entire planet. Your character, doesn't think that's right, and with the help of a few like minded individuals they start a revolution in Europe, and in The New Colossus, they bring that fight to America. The game is full of newspaper articles and postcards that fill in the fictional history and bring the world to life. And, bonus kinda, with how the real world was in 2017, it was cathartic to mow down fictional Nazis. The game is surprisingly emotional and heavy for a shooter, but it does have plenty of moments that get the player revved up! Especially the ending. You kill the Nazi general that's been your main rival for the past 2 games on live national television, and then your partners give a rousing speech to the American people. And then the credits roll. 

You can watch the scene here.

7. Star Trek Discovery: Cadet Tilly Swearing

Discovery is the first new Star Trek TV series since Enterprise went off the air. The showrunners wanted to create a series that reflected Trek's vision, and make it a show for the modern audiences. I personally think they have achieved this goal. One of my favourite moments of the first season was a simple one. Cadet Tilly, Specialist Burnham, and Lieutenant Stamets were doing some sciencey stuff, and Tilly got excited at a discovery. She called it "fucking cool". Star Trek has dropped some swears in the past, not many though, and never the f-bomb. But it worked. 

You can watch the scene here. 

8. Stranger Things: Steve giving Dustin hair advice

I loved Steve and Dustin's banter in the second season of Stranger Things. Steve grew into an amazing character, and was so protective of the kids. I loved listening to Steve and Dustin complain about the women in their lives, but it was was when Steve gave Dustin hair advice, that I really fell in love. 

You can watch the scene here. 

9. Star Wars the Last Jedi: Throne Room Fight

I'm not going to go super into this one, because I know there are still people who haven't watched the latest Star Wars, and would get upset if I ruined something this cool. 

So instead of the scene, here's one of the trailers. 

10. Spider-Man Homecoming: Peter meets Liz's Dad

I saw someone else describe this scene as the moment Peter realizes he can't be a normal teen and Spider-Man at the same time. I think that's a good thought. Personally, I see it as the moment Peter realizes that even the bad guys can have families, and that maybe life isn't black and white. But no matter how you interpret the scene, it is fantastically done. 

You can watch the scene here. 

11. Thor Ragnarok: literally the entire thing

This entire movie is wonderful. The character's relationships, the cast's chemistry, the writing. Everything. So many quotable lines, so many stunning shots. Every scene with Korg. Thor and Loki being brothers and adversaries. Go and watch this movie. Right now. Seriously. 

Here's a random scene with Korg to watch! 

Alright, those are my top 11 pop culture moments from 2017! I hope you enjoy! Here's looking forward to what 2018 will bring! 

 

Top Ten Pop Culture Moments of 2016

It’s December 23, it’s almost Christmas, so let’s do a top ten list! In this list, I will be listing my Top Ten Favourite Pop Culture Moments of the Year! That’s right, moments! There will be spoilers after this point.

1.) Deadpool’s opening credits

This is how all credits should be done. They showcased the tone of the entire movie, and even broke the fourth wall a few times! From Hugh Jackman’s sexiest man of the year cover, the Ryan Reynold’s Green Lantern trading card, to bullet holes and blood, these credits showed us exactly what we were going to get over the course of the film. Thankfully, the movie lived up its amazing opening credits!

Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MjyGL0go60

2.) Jon and Sansa being reunited

These two hadn’t been seen together since the first or second episode of Game of Thrones, and they were the first of the Stark children to be reunited after all the terrible things that befell their family. It was possibly the first truly happy moment the series gave us, and it made everyone tear up with joy.

Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzHj-LrhwBc

3.) Spider-Man taking Cap’s shield

I could’ve listed so many things from the airport battle, but Spider-Man’s entrance with him taking Cap’s shield and webbing his wrists together was just great.

Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBANU6ZVFZY

4.) Wonder Woman’s entrance in BvS

There isn’t too much great we can say about BvS, but Wonder Woman’s entrance is one of them. From the electric violin, to Batman and Superman’s shocked looks, the scene showed us how could the movie could’ve been. She was in the movie for far too short of a time, but what a time.

Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwgPtAKTfq8

5.) Samurai ATOM

Ray Palmer’s ATOM suit, with a samurai helm, on horseback. Thank you season two of Legends of Tomorrow.

6.) Ghost Rider’s reveal

This season of Agents of Shield brought it, and brought it hard. We got LMDs, Coulsen back in the field, and Daisy going full superhero. On top of that, we got Ghost Rider, flaming skull and all. Doctor Strange brought magic and idea of other realms into the MCU, Agents of Shield brought in hell and demons all wrapped up in a glorious burning chain.

Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpW6XVe8JvM

7 & 8.) Battle of the Bastards and Sansa’s revenge

They’re in the same episode, so I’ll put them together on the list. First off, the battle. It was the largest battle every filmed for television and involved thousands of extras and a month of filming. It is easily on par with, or better than, the massive battles in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. On top the of pure scale of things, it’s a deeply emotional and human experience. There are very few things that have left me on the edge of my seat and breathless, this battle did it. And then, at the end of the amazing episode (which also featured dragons destroying a fleet of battleships), Sansa got her revenge on Ramsay Bolton by feeding him to his own dogs that he had starved for days.   

Watch the battle here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsFeIVJfKsA

Watch Sansa’s revenge here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6cVrn4bqdM

9.) Darth Vader takes out entire rebel platoon

So technically this happened in 2015, but the collected edition of the storyline didn’t come out until 2016, so I’m counting it. Basically, in the amazing Star Wars comics that Marvel is doing, Darth Vader gets shot down and the rebels think it’s their best shot at taking him out. At one point he gets surrounded by an entire platoon, and after insulting them (see above), he kills them by detonating their grenades. Damn.

10.) Titanfall 2: Cause and Effect mission

Easily one of the best designed video game levels ever. During the course of the mission you get a new piece of equipment that introduces a new gameplay mechanic: you can jump through time. This allows you to try so many different things over the course of the mission, and is just ridiculously fun!

I’m not posting a link to a video, as they’re all walkthroughs and super long.

Straight up? This is all about DC

                What a week.

                I mean, what a week. Parts of it seemed to stretch out for forever, ever since Wednesday I had thought it was Friday, but Monday feels like it was only yesterday. On top of that, I lived out my childhood (and, let’s be honest, my adult) fantasy of catching a Pokémon in the real world. It’s been a weird week.

                Let’s talk about something I don’t often bring up on these posts: the DC Extended Universe. I enjoyed Man of Steel, to the point where I have watched it by choice several times. I was excited for Batman v Superman, and, even after the extremely disappointing trailers, I still saw it opening weekend. I badly wanted to like it, honest. I loved Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, I honestly think Ben Affleck is one of the best actors to ever don the Batcowl. It’s just the movie itself. The scenes with Wonder Woman were amazing, but she’s barely in it. Affleck smirking and pretending to be drunk as Bruce Wayne was probably the funniest part of the movie. And Superman was…there? Honestly, after the humanity that was portrayed in Man of Steel, Henry Cavill feels underutilized. And there was the odd choice of making Lex Luthor a less deranged Joker, instead of a brilliant and corrupt inventor. He was basically a crazier Zuckerberg who talked about urine. Even with all my disappointment, the film looked beautiful, the fight scenes were well done, and I will watch Gal Gadot’s scenes again and again.

                I still have hope for the DCEU, though! Mainly brought on by my hopes for both Suicide Squad and the Wonder Woman solo film. The trailers for Suicide Squad are colourful and over the top, the casting choices seem on point, and I’m honestly excited for Leto’s take on the Joker. As for the WW solo film? She was the best part of BvS, the film takes place in World War 2, Chris Pine, and it has a female director! Plus the latest poster for it looks extremely badass.

                Now let’s flip to the smaller screen, and what’s affectionately known as the Arrowverse. The Arrowverse comprises of Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, and Constantine. All the shows DC currently has airing, and if any of you mention Gotham, I don’t care. These shows have a dedicated fanbase, and many were surprised to learn that the actors on the shows would not be playing their respective characters in the film universe. As of right now, DC has two live action Flashes, two Supermans, and two Suicide Squads. There is an interesting theory that has come out of this! The Flash has crossed over into other versions of Earth, and many believe that the film universe is actually just one of the darker universes (because of all that killing), and that DC’s endgame is a “Crisis on Infinite Earths” type movie, where the film heroes and TV heroes will cross over into an epically confusing and convoluted mess that will put the final nail into the DCEU.

                But seriously, the shows on the CW are amazing. Even with people’s gripes about Arrow’s storytelling the past couple years, the shows are all still solid and enjoyable, and aren’t super dark in the lighting department. Does Ben Affleck eat up that much of the budget or something? Get some lights on your sets DC. I know those costumes have colour somewhere!