Top 10 Last Week Tonight With John Oliver Episodes

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

Next month marks the beginning of the eight season of HBO's expectation-shattering, risk-taking, trouble-making news-satire series Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (2014-Present). Before the new season begins, I figured I'd share my ranking of the very best episodes from what is undoubtedly my favorite talk show on television. There have been many memorable ones throughout the years, as the series is known for going big with its high-budget stunts and the host's mentality of doing insane things to prove a point. Out of the many crazy things that have happened across the seven-season run, these are the best of the best. And now, this.

And now, my honorable mentions: Burdihamedov / Guinness World Records (Season 6, Episode 20), Coronavirus VII: Sports (Season 7, Episode 14), Dalai Lama (Season 4, Episode 4), Public Shaming (Season 6, Episode 5), Scandals (Season 3, Episode 23)

10. Coronavirus II (Season 7, Episode 5)

The seventh season of Last Week Tonight started out in a normal fashion in the spring of 2020. Among the first episodes was one titled "Coronavirus", with the main story being about the virus that was mainly spreading in China at the time.

Then, the situation hit the fan.

After the first four episodes had aired, the Covid-19 situation in the U.S. (and many other countries around the world) got exponentially worse, leading to a large-scale lockdown. And so, HBO continued to air the talk show from Oliver's own home (which Oliver constantly refers to as a "blank void"), which would be the setting for the rest of the season. Coronavirus II was the first at-home episode of the series, and Oliver did a brilliant job adapting to the difficult situation. The episode strikes a balance between empathizing how serious the situation is but also convincing people that we will get through this - doing a much better job at that than certain governments, which get their share of valid criticism in this episode.

9. Confederacy (Season 4, Episode 26)

I've heard people compare John Oliver to journalists more often than to other talk-show hosts - he and his team put such an incredible amount of effort into researching material on the issues they discuss on the show, that underneath all of the crude satirical humor, there is a whole lot to learn from the series. It is especially evident in episodes like Confederacy, where Oliver tackles a very complex and difficult subject with a a brilliant combination of entertainment and facts. You'll laugh, but you'll also learn a lot and think about subjects worth thinking about.

The role of the Confederate States' history in current U.S. politics can be a difficult thing to grasp, as different media outlets portray it in different ways - I remember being extremely confused about why so many people still insist on glorifying slavery-era U.S. - not just the leaders of the era in general, but particularly the ones who fought for their right to own slaves. John Oliver does a great job explaining this baffling phenomenon, and lines are drawn all the way from Confederate generals to modern-day white supremacists (such as a certain ex-President from recent history). It's all very eye-opening.

8. President-Elect Trump (Season 3, Episode 30)

John Oliver's season 3 finale was the first episode to air after the infamous 2016 Presidential election. Oliver is visibly agitated by the results, and seems to be barely keeping it together, which was quite therapeutic to watch in a strange way - many viewers, myself very much included, could relate to his chaotic mood. Even with such a dire situation, as is always the case, John Oliver managed to pull some fantastic laughs out of it.

Before 2020 happened, 2016 was all the rage in the category of horrible years in recent memory. It felt very appropriate that Last Week Tonight's final episode of 2016 ended on an explosive montage of various people saying "Fuck you, 2016!" to the cameras. In the midst of the montage of people saying just that, one of them says "Fuck you, John Oliver!" while pointing his middle finger, and I remember roaring with laughter to this insanely funny moment.

7. Rudy Giuliani (Season 5, Episode 10)

The main story in this season 5 episode was about President Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani, and it was all right - but that's not the reason for the episode being in my all-time top 10. The reason for that is what happened after the main story, as we got an explosive conclusion to the all-around perplexing narrative surrounding Blockbuster Video, that had spanned multiple episodes throughout the season.

Oliver had originally done a short piece on how there were only few Blockbuster Video locations open in the U.S., and he had later decided to help them stay in business by donating various movie memorabilia to them - most famously, a jockstrap worn by Russell Crowe in the film Cinderella Man, that Last Week Tonight had purchased in an auction for comedy reasons. All of this insanity culminated in this episode, where the host revealed that Crowe had thanked John Oliver for this bizarre tribute by donating the money from selling the jockstrap to the Australia Zoo - specifically to fund a ward for koalas with STD's. And so it came to be that the John Oliver Koala Chlamydia Ward was established, and John Oliver ended this episode by fake-ending the entire series, walking out exclaiming that he has now achieved everything.

6. Police (Season 7, Episode 14)

In the wake of George Floyd's murder and the discussion involving police and protests in the summer of 2020, Last Week Tonight aired its most somber episode to date. While the half-hour did involve moments of humor, the overall tone was much more serious than in any other episode, as Oliver wasn't in a very joking mood and wanted to make some very important points regarding some very hard truths. The episode is a perfect example of why John Oliver is considered to be a more "journalist" type than his talk-show host counterparts, as he delves into some shocking facts regarding police training and various structural problems in the U.S. police system.

The episode deals with issues that no one wants to think about but everyone should confront and be aware of. At the end of the episode, the host decides to give the last word to the people most affected by police brutality, as he shows a clip of African-American Kimberly Latrice Jones putting to words just how much pain her community has been through and why people are so frustrated - a clip so powerful, that when it cut back to John Oliver, he (just like many viewers undoubtedly) was in tears. Important stuff.

5. Church (Season 2, Episode 25)

Between my plans to watch the entire 24 franchise in real time according to the show's timeline in the span of 12 years with a friend of mine, and my seven-year (and counting) -spanning tradition of presenting my annual Christmas present to my brother in an extravagant form that is larger in scale each year, I think it's safe to say that committing to a bit is somewhat of a religion to me. And that is why people like John Oliver are heroes to me - the man literally started his own church just to prove a point.

In this iconic season 2 episode, Oliver tackles the issue of televangelists - if you're not familiar with the subject, the gist of it is that there's a whole subculture in the U.S. of illegitimate churches that scam money from people through religious propaganda on television. To prove just how easily this can happen due to lack of regulation, John Oliver revealed in this episode that he had formed his own church with the help of his HBO budget. Last Week Tonight literally formed their own church with the help of a legal team, and proved first-hand just how easily they could scam a bunch of money from people thanks to some worrisome loopholes in the law. "Go big or go home" truly sums up the show's mentality in episodes such as this.

4. Donald Trump (Season 3, Episode 3)

If you've read between the lines and caught on some subtleties in blog texts such as my top 10 party movies and the top 10 movies that define the Trump era, you might've picked up on the fact that I'm not the biggest fan of Donald Trump - sure, you may think that a movie blog should stay out of politics, but to be fair, at this point I see Donald Trump as more of a human rights issue than a political issue. Anyways, this episode was aired in early 2016, and it was the first of many times that John Oliver went after then-candidate Trump with a perfect mixture of hard facts and brilliant humor.

What really gets me about the original Trump episode is just how meticulously Oliver deconstructs all of the reasons for Trump's popularity. Throughout various polls and interviews, he pinpoints four main reasons that Trump supporters have given for supporting him, and then uses cold and hard facts to show why each and every one of those reasons were, well, bullshit. I'm guessing that die-hard Trump supporters don't watch Last Week Tonight regularly, but I'd love to show this episode to one of them and see what they have to say after all of the main pro-Trump arguments got so brilliantly dismantled.

3. Government Surveillance (Season 2, Episode 8)

Another "Go big or go home" episode. After talking about government surveillance for 14 minutes, Oliver starts to build up towards his big reveal: "Unfortunately, the most obvious person to talk to about this is Edward Snowden, but he currently lives in Russia, meaning that if you wanted to ask him about any of these issues, you'd have to fly all the way there to do it, and it is not a pleasant flight". *Deep breath and a wicked smile* "...And the reason I know that...is that last week, I went to Russia to speak with Edward Snowden, and this is what happened".

The rest of the episode is a video of Oliver interviewing fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden in his current place of asylum in Russia. This was a bold step by Oliver, and the interview is incredibly informative and poignant at times and hilarious at others. At one point, the host uses the concept of leaked "dick pics" to dumb down the government surveillance debate, and as a visual illustration, he gives a folder with a picture of his genitalia to Snowden, proceeding to ask who would be able to see it if it were sent by e-mail or social media. When Snowden asks if he should show it to the camera, Oliver responds "No you should absolutely not, and it's unbelievable that you would do that. Actually, it's entirely believable" - rarely have I laughed out loud as lengthily and intensely as I did when that genius joke hit me.

2. SLAPP Suits (Season 6, Episode 29)

In the season 4 episode Coal, John Oliver went vigorously after coal boss Bob Murray over his horrible treatment of employees. After this, Murray sued Last Week Tonight. Oliver wanted to do a piece on SLAPP suits (a specific kind of lawsuit performed by rich entities with the mere intention of silencing their opponents with the power of money without any legal grounds) - but as long as the court case lasted, he wasn't legally allowed to bring it up. After two years of Murray trying (and failing) to get Last Week Tonight off the air, the case came to a conclusion, and Oliver was ready to tell the truth to the world.

This episode is Oliver's journalist side at its finest. He exposes Murray as a rotten human being who has been getting away with running people out of business and silencing his critics with SLAPP suits for years, and shows just how immoral and damaging these actions have been. Murray's actions had gone largely unchecked until this very point, as Oliver bravely and gloriously shared the truth to the world. Being the extravagant showman that he is, the host ended the episode with a ridiculously large-scale musical number, featuring the "EAT SHIT, BOB" squirrel from the original Coal episode as a nice throwback. Never has an episode of television been so entertaining and hysterical while also being so societally impactful and morally upright at the same time - except, of course, for this list's #1...

1. Mike Pence (Season 5, Episode 5)

I promise to you, this is the only time that "Mike Pence" is number one in one of my blog posts. This episode, focusing on the former Vice President, is quite the roller coaster - after a bunch of criticism against the VP, John Oliver reveals the one thing that likes about Pence: his bunny. We're introduced to Marlon Bundo, the Pence family's bunny, who has a cute name, a sweet social media presence and even a children's book about him published by Pence's family. However, Oliver brings up the dark undertone of the seemingly wholesome children's book - due to Pence's extreme beliefs, one of the book's major sponsors was a deeply homophobic organisation that performed conversion therapy on gay teenagers.

Thankfully, John Oliver wasn't having any of it.

In the most hilarious, poignant and respectable stunt that the series has ever pulled, Oliver reveals that Last Week Tonight had written and published their own children's book about the same bunny - only in this book, Marlon Bundo is a boy bunny who loves another boy bunny, and the story has a pro-equality message for children. Not only that, but all of the book's proceeds went to the Trevor Project, which provides crisis aid and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ+ youth, and AIDS United, which works to end the AIDS epidemic in the United States. John Oliver's Marlon Bundo book is honestly one of my favorite things that any human being has done, both on a humor/entertainment level and on a moral one.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for my first blog of February, which will appropriately be a list of the top 10 movies to watch during Black History Month. See you then!

Inauguration Week: Top 10 Movies That Define The Trump Era

"I'm done with you. He's done with you. The world is done with you"

-Jeff Winger (Joel McHale), Community (2009-2015)

Yesterday was a historic occasion, as Joe Biden was sworn in as the forty-sixth President of the United States. This marks the end of a tumultuous, chaotic four-year period in American (as well as global) history - the Trump presidency. Of all the presidents that one could have lived under, Trump is certainly one of them, so I decided to look back on these four years with some movie picks that have coincided with the Trump era, some in more direct ways and others in various thematic and symbolic ways.

An honorable mention to this John Mulaney clip (click to watch), which honestly sums the last four years up better than any of the movies listed below.

10. Us (2019)

Jordan Peele's Us is many things - a creepy horror film, a powerhouse acting job from Lupita Nyong'o and her co-stars, an entertaining flick with a bunch of humor - and last but definitely not least, a scorching political commentary on the race and class divides in the United States. The story may be a supernatural one with evil doppelgängers living underground, but the metaphors that the film makes are startling.

Donald Trump's presidency has certainly sparked new debates on American history, the lack of education and general knowledge on certain parts of it, and the impacts that systems such as slavery continue to have to this day due to the way they've been dealt with - and Us has a lot to say about these topics, so its release in 2019 felt extremely poignant.

9. Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)

What would a Star Wars movie have to do with the Trump era? More than you might think.

You may or may not be familiar with the debate that films like The Last Jedi have sparked over diversity in movies - the film had a more racially diverse cast than previous Star Wars films, and this upset a whole lot of people. Donald Trump's rise and fall has been quite synonymous with the phenomenon of the "dominance of the white man" in the world starting to be over, and the problems that insecure white men such as Donald Trump have had with this phenomenon.

The rhetoric in the arguments for and against The Last Jedi was startlingly similar to the rhetoric present in Trump-era politics - both even suffered from Russian interference, as studies have found that many of the negative online reviews of the film were done by Russian bot accounts for agenda-driven reasons. What a time to be alive.

8. Parasite (2019)

Much like the previous entry, Parasite is on this list mainly because its place in cinematic history represents the kind of societal change that the Trump administration has very much stood against, but has been happening despite their efforts. A South Korean film (read: a film from anywhere else than the U.S.) winning the Oscar for Best Picture would've been hard to imagine some years ago, and it still felt like a very unexpected step forward when it happened last year.

While the world celebrated the win of this foreign underdog, which might be the beginning of a significant global change in the Hollywood-centric world of movies, President Trump made his stance clear by famously mocking the film and its country of origin in one of his rallies, and suggesting we should bring back movies like Gone With The Wind (1939). I should really do a whole other post on the top 10 reasons why that statement was just the funniest and most fitting thing for him to say and for his base to echo.

7. Joker (2019)

The success of Todd Phillips's Joker, and specifically the type of reactions that it got, say a lot about the time in which the film was released. In another time, it might have been seen as mere psychological horror story about a madman who kills a bunch of people. But the scariest part of the film is this: in 2019, it resonated with a lot of people. It's not like the people who watched the film got inspired to go on a violent murder spree themselves, as some critics had feared, but many viewers felt a startling amount of sympathy for the main character.

Of course, this is due to many reasons: dialogue on mental illness has become less taboo in the last years, and the film strongly drives the point that the troubles in its story could've been avoided if Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) would've gotten the help and treatment he needed (this can also be connected to the Trump presidency, and his administration's habit of not exactly prioritizing health care). But all of this was exasperated by the fact that the Joker's main motivation was something that a lot of us were feeling around that time: total frustration in society.

The Trump era had certainly stoked the flames of this phenomenon for a lot of people, so watching a film about a guy repeatedly run over by an unjust society until he has had enough is something that resonated with many viewers. Some people blame the film for sympathizing with such a character; others blame the government for creating a situation where this film feels so relevant. And some men, I suppose, just want to watch the world burn (I'm not entirely sure which clown I'm referring to here).

6. The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (2020)

My favorite film of the year 2020 felt extremely topical in its year of release, even though this wasn't exactly planned - when Aaron Sorkin started working on the script, he had no idea of how the summer of 2020 would spark a whole new level of debate on the very issues that this masterpiece of a film grapples with. The film takes place in the late 1960's, following the legal aftermath of an infamous riot in Chicago. The court case sparks a classic question: in the case of riots that have turned violent, where does the blame lie? With the protesters, with the police, both, neither, or something else?

Apparently this isn't an easy question to answer, because over 40 years later, we've been asking the exact same questions (but more in the form of people shouting over each other on Twitter) in the context of modern-day police brutality, George Floyd's killing and the subsequent protests, and the Black Lives Matter movement. I have a feeling that I don't have to spell out why this has everything to do with the Donald Trump presidency.

5. Da 5 Bloods (2020)

Of all the points-of-view that the legendary social critic filmmaker Spike Lee could've taken with his latest feature film, having one of the main characters be a Trump-supporting African-American is not one I would've expected - then again, Lee never does quite what you'd expect. It is no secret that the director isn't a fan of Trump, but with this film, he made the smart move of diving deep into the reasons why people support him, instead of painting his supporters as horrible people in a black-and-white fashion.

The character arch of Paul (Delroy Lindo) is a fascinating look at the societal bitterness that often opens its doors to the brand of populism that Trump represents. Da 5 Bloods also deals with a variety of other subjects that go hand-in-hand with the Trump era, from civil rights struggles to equality within the military.

4. 13th (2016)

This Netflix documentary was released before Donald Trump was elected into office, but his campaign was already a big deal and even made its way into the tail end of the film. But the larger reason for 13th's placement on this particular list is that it happens to deal with many issues that the Trump presidency would go on to blow out of proportion. Watching the film feels almost prophetic, as it warns us of problems that would just get worse if nothing is done, which is exactly what happened in the following four years.

If you've been following the conversation surrounding systemic racism in the U.S. and have trouble understanding what the phenomenon really means, this film gives you the answers and explains the issue in a crystal-clear way. If you're wondering who is right when activists insist that the country needs large structural change while Trump and his fellows insist that there is no systemic racism, watching this documentary should leave no doubt in your mind. I might sound biased or black-and-white here, but trust me - if you watch the film, chances are you'll agree. 13th is one of the most shocking, honest and downright important films I have ever seen, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone.

3. The Great Hack (2019)

Much like the previous entry, this is a documentary that may help clarify a complex issue that is thrown into conversation all the time in the media but is often left unexplained - specifically the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and how things like targeted ads, misuse of private information, Facebook and Russia all had a role to play in the 2016 election. These four years have certainly been a strange time, and it gets a whole lot stranger once you immerse yourself in the world that this documentary dwells on.

The world of Trump has been a world riddled with internet-age woes, as the political divides in the U.S. have been blown out of proportion through social networking - whether it's people using the anonymity of the internet as a reason to hurl insults one way or another, bots pretending to be people as a means of spreading an agenda, or companies like Cambridge Analytica tailoring ads in order to win elections, many pre-existing issues have gotten a lot worse thanks to the power of social media. This documentary will certainly make one think of their media usage and online behavior, and it helps explain some of the weirder causes (and implications) of the 2016 election results.

2. Bombshell (2019)

The #metoo -movement and the Trump presidency aren't just two things that happened to take place in the same few years - they are very intertwined with one another in many ways. Some experts say that Trump would've lost the 2016 election if the rise of #metoo would've happened just a year earlier, as voters might have taken the accusations against Trump himself more seriously. We'll never know for sure, but what we do know is that many aspects of the Trump administration are very much tied with the phenomenon of sexual harassment and misconduct being talked about more due to the awareness raised by various movements in the last years.

And that's where Bombshell steps in. It is the gripping true story of what went down within the ranks of Fox News, the favored network of Trump and his base. The film deals with many issues that the Trump presidency has sparked a lot of conversation on, from hush money and assault allegations to the propaganda-like philosophy of Fox News. Much like 13th, it is one of those movies that everyone could benefit from watching, as it may open the eyes of many viewers concerning just how serious the issues in question really are.

1. BlacKKKlansman (2018)

Who here is surprised that more than one Spike Lee joint made the cut for this particular list? No one? Yeah, that checks out.

And so we arrive at the definitive movie of the Trump era. It is quite fitting that the film in question is filled with depressing realities, hysterical moments of tragi-comedy, and white supremacists with pointed hoods burning crosses. By the end of the film, Spike Lee makes it pretty damn clear just how connected the country's history of white supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan movement are with the Trump presidency, thus creating one of the most powerful and relevant movies I have ever seen. I don't want to give away the film's ending for those who haven't seen it, but let's just say that the lines that are drawn between past and present are likely to leave quite anyone speechless. The old shtick of history repeating itself unless people learn from the past has never rung quite so true.

I'd also like to add that I made this list before January 6th - if I had done it later, perhaps disaster thrillers like Olympus Has Fallen (2013) or violent cult dramas like The Wicker Man (2006) would've made the cut.

Let's hope that things start to get better in the years to come! I'll be back next week with a list of the top 10 Last Week Tonight with John Oliver episodes.

Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies Of 2021

 Hello, dear reader!

Last year, I posted a list of my most anticipated 2020 films. Then the coronavirus happened. Long story short, a whopping three of the ten films on the list actually got released in 2020. So, my list of the most anticipated 2021 films has much of the same content, as so many movies were delayed to this year. Still, there are some differences as there are new exciting films in the making, and the order of some films has changed to due new information like trailers and casting decisions. These are the films that I'm most excited to see in 2021, here's hoping they get released on time!

Here are my honorable mentions: BIOS, F9, The Matrix 4, Untitled Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel, West Side Story

10. A Quiet Place Part II

Just before Covid-19 hit the fan, I had reserved tickets with two friends of mine to a double feature of A Quiet Place (2018) and its upcoming sequel in the local cinema. I'm really hoping that they bring this concept back once the sequel is released for real.

The first Quiet Place was one of the best horror movies of the 2010's, so I'm excited as hell for the sequel. I'm glad that John Krasinski is returning as director, and the story will take some interesting turns based on the trailer.

9. No Time To Die

With an almost 3-hour runtime, expert director Cary Joji Fukunaga behind the wheel, and boy-who-cried-wolf Daniel Craig swearing that this will be his final time playing Bond (for real, this time), this will be no ordinary 007 film. There's a lot to be excited about with No Time To Die, but the number one hype factor for me is the fact that Rami Malek is playing the film's villain. Malek is one the most skillful actors alive, and I can't wait to see him killing it as a Bond villain.

8. Halloween Kills

2018's Halloween was a surprisingly awesome follow-up to the original 1978 masterpiece, so I'm intrigued to see where the story of the long-running franchise will go from here. I speculated in my ranking of the franchise's films that Halloween Kills would kill off the franchise's iconic heroine Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), thus passing the torch to her daughter Karen (Judy Greer), who was set up as a strong protagonist in the franchise's previous instalment. Come October, we'll see whether or not I was right - in any case, I'm sure we're in for some thrills and the welcome return of Michael Myers as well as the franchise's legendary soundtrack.

7. Godzilla Vs. Kong

I have a huge soft spot for Kaiju monster films. I absolutely love the original Godzilla (1954), I've enjoyed diving into the strange world of its sequels, and I've been impressed with Hollywood's take on the lore in its new "MonsterVerse". I am similarly a fan of the original King Kong (1933), as well as its 2005 remake by the wonderful Peter Jackson (more on him at #2).

So, seeing these two legendary movie monsters go up against each other in the culmination of the MonsterVerse should be really awesome - yes, I know that I sound like a little kid pitting his toys against each other. Look, cinema is a wide spectrum, and there's nothing wrong with a movie buff who enjoys Oscar-winning dramas and mega-entertaining monster fight movies equally.

6. Black Widow

When I heard that the Marvel Cinematic Universe would go on produce new films after Avengers: Endgame (2019), I rolled my eyes, figuring we don't need any more and Endgame was a good place to stop. When Spider-Man: Far From Home came out, I changed my view because the film was fun as hell and I realized that there's no harm in making more films when they keep being good and entertaining. And now that we've gone one and a half years without a new film from the franchise, I've realized that I miss the MCU. How far I've come.

Thankfully, we're not too far away from Black Widow, unless the Covid situation causes yet another delay. It'll be great to see Scarlett Johansson's fantastic superhero character taking the lead role for once, after being the MVP supporting character in so many Marvel movies.

5. In The Heights

Lin Manuel-Miranda's acclaimed Broadway musical In The Heights isn't familiar to me, as I haven't found the time and energy to invest myself in the soundtrack. But I'm familiar enough with Miranda's other works (have I mentioned that Hamilton is one of humanity's greatest achievements?) to know that he's a mastermind of the musical business, so a cinematic adaptation of his musical is enough to get me hyped.

Furthermore, the film's cast is a whirlwind of talent, between names like Anthony Ramos, Stephanie Beatriz, Jimmy Smits and Miranda himself. And the trailer for the film looks quite breathtaking. Bring it on!

4. The Many Saints Of Newark

If you're a fan of The Sopranos (1999-2007), you'll know why I'm so excited about this prequel film to the critically acclaimed series. Between the show's creator David Chase writing the script and longtime Sopranos director Alan Taylor directing it, as well as Michael Gandolfini (the son of the late great James Gandolfini) playing the role of a young Tony Soprano, I can't see a way that this film could fail. Some of the best actors in the business, such as Leslie Odom Jr. and Ray Liotta, have also been cast in the film, so there's that.

3. Top Gun: Maverick

I like Top Gun (1986) way more than is normal for an analytical movie buff. It's honestly one of my all-time favorite movies, for various subjective reasons. And I'm extremely pumped for this fantastic-sounding sequel. Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer are returning to their iconic roles, while awesome actors like Jon Hamm and Miles Teller are joining the supporting cast. Based on the trailer, it looks like the sequel has a chance of being just as loud, adrenaline-filled and badass as its original counterpart - here's hoping it delivers.

2. The Beatles: Get Back

There have been many documentaries about the most iconic rock band of them all, but no "definitive one" - probably because their story is so larger-than-life that it is hard to capture in a single documentary. I mean, who is ambitious enough to get a project like that done?

When the world of fantasy fans believed that the Lord Of The Rings books are too large in scope to be made into decent films, Peter Jackson accepted the challenge and proved them wrong by making the greatest film trilogy of all time. When fans of monster movies said that it's a terrible idea to remake a classic like King Kong, Peter Jackson accepted the challenge and proved them wrong by making a remake just as great as the original. Jackson is Hollywood's king of ambitious projects that may seem impossible, and that is why I have a ton of faith in his Beatles documentary. One of my favorite directors telling the story of my all-time favorite band sounds like the recipe for a masterpiece if I ever heard one.

1. Dune

For the second year in a row, Denis Villeneuve's Dune tops my list of the year's most anticipated films - maybe this year it'll actually get released. Everything that I hear about this film adaptation of one of my favorite books just makes me more excited. Every time I see a film by Villeneuve, I become more convinced that he's the man for the job. Every time the studio releases new promotional pictures of the film, I'm dazzled by how everything in them looks like Frank Herbert's book has come to life. Every time I see anything with Timothée Chalamet, I'm convinced that he's one of the greatest actors of my generation and the best possible casting choice for the powerhouse role of Paul Atreides.

I recognize the fact that much of today's blog has been reciting the names of famous actors who are going to be in a movie. But let me just say this - Jason Momoa. Oscar Isaac. Rebecca Ferguson. Zendaya. Josh Brolin. Dave Bautista. Stellan Skarsgård. Javier Bardem. And, as mentioned previously, Timothée Chalamet. That's an a-list cast if I ever saw one. And it's not just that it's an incredible collection of talented individuals - whether it's Bardem as the mysterious and reclusive Stilgar, or Zendaya as the sharp and likable Chani, every single one of the announced casting choices are just perfect for their roles, and I can already picture them as the book's main characters with ease.

Also, I enjoyed watching the trailer for this film more than I enjoyed watching some full-length movies in 2020.

Thank you for reading! Next week is Inauguration Day, so I'll be sharing my ranking of the 10 movies that define the Trump era.

Top 10 TV Shows Of 2020

Hello, dear reader!

I hope your 2021 has gotten off to a good start. Last week I shared my ranking of 2020's greatest films, so now it's time for the other side of the coin - the greatest TV shows of the past year. The year featured many great seasons of television, so this list was quite the challenge to make. I've managed to put dramas, comedies and even documentary shows onto the same list - talk shows I had to omit, since they became too hard to compare to the already diverse group of genres on this list. I will mention Last Week Tonight With John Oliver and The Daily Show With Trevor Noah as my two absolute favorite talk shows from the past year.

Here are my honorable mentions: 13 Reasons Why (Season 4), Brave New World (Season 1), Sex Education (Season 2), Star Trek: Discovery (Season 3), The Walking Dead (Second half of season 10).

10. Hollywood

This delightful miniseries was a real treat for a movie buff such as myself. A fictional tale in a historical real-life setting, Hollywood follows a group of aspiring actors, directors and screenwriters in 1940's Hollywood as they try to make it big in the industry. The more you know about cinema history, the more you will enjoy this series, because while the main characters are fictional, a huge amount of real-life figures from that era pop up in the story. Sure, the series is very cheesy and unrealistic at times - but what would you expect from a show called Hollywood?

9. Big Mouth (Season 4)

Nick Kroll & Andrew Goldberg's animated coming-of-age sitcom just keeps getting better. The fourth season of this strange, strange series took a turn to a wider array of topics to deal with; while the previous seasons have focused on puberty and the universal struggles that come with the age, this season took a look at various interconnected issues that different kinds of people experience when growing up.

While the agenda to teach important and wholesome lessons has been a bit more obvious in the last few seasons, the show's raunchy and norm-defying humor has simultaneously gotten crazier and crazier each season. The newest season features creative concept episodes, insane meta humor and some borderline imagery, but the series never lets its central positive lessons out of sight. Also, John Mulaney and company continue to be fantastic with their voice performances.

8. Saturday Night Live (Second half of season 45, First half of season 46)

What a rollercoaster of a year it was for Saturday Night Live (and, you know, everyone and everything else). What started out as a standard run got cut short when the coronavirus pandemic hit the fan, and after a few-week break, SNL finished its forty-fifth season with a run of three remotely filmed episodes with all of the cast members performing from home. They did a great job with the tough situation, and thankfully they have gotten to return to the live format this fall, with a limited audience and strict restrictions for the cast.

The series had some amazing hosts this year, from comedy masterminds like John Mulaney and Dave Chappelle to great actors like Timothée Chalamet and Brad Pitt having a ball with the sketch comedy format. The cast has been fantastic, between Kate McKinnon continuing to prove that there isn't a person on earth who she can't impersonate, Pete Davidson being his hilarious self, and head writers Colin Jost and Michael Che rocking the Weekend Update segment. I can't wait for this year's SNL, with longtime castmember Alex Moffat stepping into the shoes of President-Elect Joe Biden (I hope we get a good swan song from Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump as well).

7. The Queen's Gambit

I'm guessing that you could enjoy the hell out of this Netflix miniseries even if you don't know the first thing about chess - The Queen's Gambit is a complex and engaging character-driven story about Beth, a strong female lead and fascinating protagonist, brilliantly played by Ana Taylor-Joy. Her prodigal chess skill and the struggles she faces on the chess board and in the outside world are heartbreaking at times and inspiring at others.

Of course, for a viewer like me who loves chess, the series is all the better. Watching the intense and well-built chess playing sequences in the series is a real edge-of-your-seat experience more often than not, and following the dialogue as one chess genius speaks to another is very entertaining. Give this series a shot, if you haven't yet - chances are that you have, given the incredible amount of popularity that the series gained upon its release.

6. Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem And Madness

Let's be real - if you're reading a movie/TV blog, and you're not my mom, you've seen Tiger King already. So you know what it's all about. But I still want to talk about it.

Seriously, I still haven't fully recovered from how absolutely batshit insane this documentary series is. It's a freaking documentary, but it's crazier than any of the fictional crime dramas and action flicks out there. And they dodged the most common problem that documentaries have (there isn't footage of everything, so many of the events must be merely described in interviews) by having footage of absolutely everything.

I can't wrap my head around the fact that this is all a true story. There's explosions, presidential campaigns, murder-for-hire plots and whatnot all related to this story about people who are really into tigers. The main guy is a gay, flamboyant, hillbilly gun nut. One of the main characters is a woman who (allegedly) fed her husband to her tigers. One of the main characters has his arm bitten off by a tiger. The drug kingpin who Tony Montana from Scarface (1983) is allegedly based on is a part of the story, because of course he is. If you ever feel like your own life is a mess, watching this series might help put things into perspective.

5. The Good Place (Second half of season 4)

The best TV shows are almost always the ones that are planned from start to finish to have a certain amount of seasons due to a certain amount of story to tell, instead of going the usual route of doing another season and another until you get cancelled. Masterful television dramas like Breaking Bad (2008-2013) and Mr. Robot (2015-2019) have proved this - and in 2020, NBC's surreal comedy hit The Good Place joined the club.

The series was popular enough to keep going, but four seasons was the planned amount for the story at hand, and they bowed out like kings. The final run of episodes was fantastic, with each one being better than the last. The final two-parter is one of the smartest, most closure-filled series finales I've seen from any genre of TV. Michael Schur, mastermind of modern sitcoms (the same guy produced and wrote for The Office (2005-2013) and co-created Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-Present)), hit yet another home run with this series.

4. Ramy (Season 2)

Bill Hader's Barry (2018-Present), Donald Glover's Atlanta (2016-Present) and Ramy Youssef's Ramy (2019-Present) have ushered in a definitive golden age for comedy-drama hybrids on television; all three manage to be incredibly serious and absolutely hysterical simultaneously. While both Barry and Atlanta didn't release new seasons in 2020, we thankfully got the second season of Ramy to keep us entertained while also having our thoughts provoked.

Ramy continues to be the most underrated series currently on TV, as the comedy-drama about a Muslim family living in New Jersey improved on its already very impressive debut season last year. The most significant step up was undoubtedly the addition of two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali to the main cast, as his presence was a constant high point throughout the season. Having memorable concept episodes that focused on various individual supporting characters was also a cool touch throughout the season. Keep up the good work, Ramy!

3. Rick And Morty (Second half of season 4)

This one was difficult to rank, since Rick And Morty only aired five 20-minute episodes this year. But the quality of the episodes was insane; three of the five made it to my all-time top 10 Rick And Morty episodes. Whether it's the fifth-wall-breaking meta insanity of Never Ricking Morty, the dark hilarity of The Vat Of Acid Episode or the climactic chaos of the season finale Star Mort Rickturn Of The Jerri, the new batch of episodes from Justin Roiland & Dan Harmon's animated sci-fi sitcom was pure gold. Can't wait for season five!

2. The Last Dance

When I started watching this series, I did so reluctantly - I didn't care about basketball and didn't know the first thing about NBA history, and I mainly watched the first episode because my brother had recommended it and my parents wanted to try the series out while I was at their place. By the fourth episode, I was literally shedding a tear due to being so moved when Michael Jordan lifted the Chicago Bulls' first-ever NBA championship trophy. That's a powerful documentary right there.

The Last Dance is nothing short of breathtaking. It's an incredible true story about talent, persistence, motivation and team spirit, and ESPN did a beautiful job putting the footage together in a tight, dramatic package that is captivating to watch. Nothing needs to be over-dramatized, because the story speaks for itself - between Dennis Rodman's misadventures outside the basketball court, Michael Jordan's stint in baseball, Phil Jackson's unique coaching philosophy and the incredibly tense final games and superior shows of skill from the players, there's a lot of thrilling entertainment value here, in addition to the vast amount of heart that really got me hooked. The Last Dance truly is the Michael Jordan of sports documentaries.

1. The Mandalorian (Season 2)

When I heard they were making a television series set in the Star Wars universe, I was skeptical and I figured we don't need a Star Wars TV show. When the first season came out and got positive reviews, I was intrigued but Disney Plus wasn't available in Finland so I shrugged it off. When Disney Plus came here and I purchased it (mainly in order to watch Hamilton several times), I decided to check out the much-talked-about Star Wars series. The first season was decent - not mind-blowing, not amazing and certainly not the Star Wars franchise at its best, but also definitely not Star Wars at its worst. It was a cool addition to the franchise, and based on the first season, I would've recommended it to completist mega-fans or people who happen to have Disney Plus on their hands.

Then came the second season, and now I compel everyone and anyone who like Star Wars to please watch this series.

In what is one of television's greatest improvements from the last several years, The Mandalorian got a whole lot better with its second season. I don't know how they pulled it off, but the season manages to simultaneously produce more easter eggs and connections to the Star Wars movies than season 1, while also gaining a stronger footing as an independent story that doesn't need to rely on fan service. I love the series for how much it feels like Star Wars atmosphere-wise (the fourth episode of season 2 has a chase sequence that has a 100% original trilogy vibe to it), but also for just being an awesome adventure series with a cool western-ish atmosphere.

The season 2 finale is without a doubt the greatest episode of television from 2020, and it wholeheartedly deserves the 9.9 rating that it boasts on IMDB. It is so much more epic and powerful than I ever expected The Mandalorian to be. Hats off to creator Jon Favreau, writer&producer Dave Filoni, the wonderful cast, and everyone else who brought this masterful spin-off together. Here's hoping that season 3 keeps up the good work!

Thank you for reading! Next week I'll be sharing my list of my most anticipated movies of 2021 - stay tuned!