I could see SHIELD in a "Most Inessential" lineup, instead. It has no reason to exist. There's no point of view, no interest, no justification… other than the obvious tie-in to a media empire. It's a bad show, but even worse, it's completely unmemorable.

I usually describe the acting in that film as "an alien species who learned their lines phonetically, but don't know what any of it means." That's how jarring it is.

Chiropractor of Steel

A lot of people despised the movie, so I'm not sure why this is your final straw, of all possible straws. Would that the capsule review above was better-written, though.

Well, I thoroughly hated Man of Steel so I won't question its inclusion on the list. I've been trying to understand this line, though:

I know! And I find Whishaw adorable but too young and skinny for my tastes. It's a major Scrawler/pico rift up in here.

Loved The Raid: Redemption, but a lot of that love was for the intense claustrophobia of the setting… This looks bigger in every way, but maybe not as tense?

Ah… here we part ways.

And I had a more opposite-r reaction, because I didn't care for the book but found the movie enjoyably ridiculous.

Tried listening to the album on stream, gave up about halfway through. The opening two tracks, "Legs Shakin'" and "Cookie", are both fun ("Legs" sounds like it was dug out of a vault from the mid-90s; "Cookie" is unconvincing industrial grind, totally inappropriate for the topic and lyrics, and that makes it even…

It's going to take a lot more than this for me to give CG another try. I didn't hate Camp, but I didn't love it - and his verse in Acid Rap's "Favorite Song" is so bad. So, so so bad. It's obvious Chance worships him, but the more quickly he figures out he's a far better and more talented performer, the better.

Okay, admittedly:

Yeah, I wondered about that, too. Wasn't sure what their criteria were.

Is that the Lauren Groff Arcadia? I haven't read it, but when I see "Arcadia" and "brilliant" in the same line, I instinctively think about Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, which is the single best modern play I've ever read.

Or the Fish story, which is my favorite, and never fails to make me laugh so hard I cry.

Two quick points:

Mazzy Star's "California" made my top list. Agreed with "lamentably overlooked".

Chance the Rapper, "Chain Smoker" Not even a close call. I've spun that single more times this year than everything else combined. Pure joy.

I mostly forgot the Planet Earth one, but I remember Fun Pit as especially sour, if not mean-spirited, about the material they were aping.

That's actually kind of strange to me: I know far more Americans who've seen The Irony of Fate (a holiday staple in Russia the way A Christmas Story is here) than Kin-Dza-Dza. He's also quite good in Ivan the Terrible Switches Jobs.