Five things I'm thankful for this year in entertainment
Here are five things in the entertainment realm that I'm particularly thankful for in 2018:
<b> Rachel McAdams' performance in "Game Night."</b> There's a lot to love about this tightly scripted, uncommonly well-made, truly surprising comedy, but McAdams' turn as one-half of a hypercompetitive couple is a marvel of tone and timing. Legendary director Howard Hawks is credited with the saying that a good movie has three great scenes and no bad ones - McAdams qualifies on her own with the alleyway surgery she performs on husband Jason Bateman, her gun-toting dance set to Third Eye Blind, and her reaction to a particularly gruesome death. She deserves an Oscar nomination, but will likely have to settle for a Golden Globe nod ... which she'll lose to Lady Gaga.
<b> Reelgood.com.</b> This website is your best answer to the question, "Is that movie streaming anywhere?" It has saved me from dropping $4 on a rental on multiple occasions.
<b> "American Horror Story's" return to form.</b> I gave up on the stylistically schizophrenic "Roanoke" season and didn't watch last year's politically fueled "Cult." But Ryan Murphy's FX anthology roared back to life with "Apocalypse," a 10-episode shocker that brought characters from the "Murder House" and "Coven" seasons together for some devilish fun. Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Sarah Paulson and other TV titans returned, but the show belonged to relative newcomer Cody Fern as a charming, dangerous, steely-eyed young man who happens to be the anti-Christ.
<b> Vast video-game worlds to explore.</b> It's getting harder and harder to escape that pesky thing called real life by turning on your cable box or going to the movie theater, but my PlayStation 4 affords me the daily opportunity to leave politics and problems behind as I get lost in its virtual world. Yes, this September's "Shadow of the Tomb Raider" attempted to scold its hero, Lara Croft, for her colonialist pillaging by putting her among thriving villages in South America, but all that falls by the wayside when you're crossing a rope bridge to enter a sacred tomb guarded by a feral priestess called The Crimson Fire. I finished that game in about 15 hours. After that, I invested 70 hours in "Horizon Zero Dawn," last year's instant classic in which you hunt animalistic robots across Utah. I don't want to admit how many hours I've put into "Overwatch."
<b> The new mix of The Beatles' White Album.</b> The album actually called "The Beatles" came out 50 years ago and has never sounded better than it does now, thanks to famed producer George Martin's son, Giles. You don't need to spend $140 on the deluxe edition to hear the difference; it blew my mind streaming on Spotify with a $10 pair of earbuds. The most revelatory tracks: "Happiness is a Warm Gun," "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" and "Piggies."
<i> Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor. Follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.</i>