The Best And Worst Remakes, Reboots, And Adaptations Of 2017
Reboot and remake culture has a hold on movies and TV that it likely won't be letting go anytime soon. As 2017 unfolded, audiences were treated to a number of adaptations of books, comics, and even video games, alongside films and shows being relaunched in hopes of reaching new audiences.
Still, just because you are remaking or rebooting a beloved title, that doesn't necessarily mean it'll turn out any good. The year was littered with movies and TV shows that missed the mark--both original ideas and those adapted from previous properties.
GameSpot has taken a look back at the year in reboots, remakes and adaptations to find the very best and the very worst. For every Spider-Man: Homecoming, there's a Ghost in the Shell and we revisited them all.
Best: Mindhunter
Mindhunter is a difficult show to watch, if only because every crime, every death, and every disturbing image or line of dialogue is rooted in reality. Couple that with "killer" performances for some of the most famous serial killers of the past 30-to-40 years, and you have a recipe for something truly terrifying on a psychological level. The fact that such an effective story can be adapted from what is essentially an FBI handbook is worthy of praise.
Worst: Baywatch
Is it really a bad adaptation if the source material itself is bad? In the case of Baywatch, sort of. While the original TV series was nothing special, the film adaptation of both very generic and doesn't offer much in terms of quality. While Dwayne Johnson and his fellow cast seem to be having fun hanging out on the beach and making a movie, there's simply not much to be interested in.
Condensing eight Stephen King novels into a 95 minute film is a bad idea from the start. The end result was a short movie that wasn't very faithful to fans of the original sci-fi western books and were simply unexciting and incomprehensible to those being exposed to the story for the first time. Everyone involved, from Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey--to King himself--deserved better than this movie.
Best: Castlevania
Video game adaptations tend to be pretty bad, but luckily, Netflix's Castlevania did the gaming franchise justice, while telling the story of the last living member of the Belmont Clan, Trevor Belmont. The animated series was crafted by none other than comic book writer Warren Ellis--primarily known for his work on Transmetropolitan--and his dark and gritty style of storytelling fits wonderfully into this world. It's a story of utter hopelessness, monsters, and really badass heroes that fans of the video game series deserve.
Worst: Ghost in the Shell
This particular adaptation was doomed from almost the beginning. When Scarlett Johansson was cast in the role of the main character, who was Japanese in the original manga, fans were quick to brand the movie as whitewashing the source material. The final product was visually-striking but unable to capture the essence of what made fans love Ghost in the Shell in the first place.
Best: The Disaster Artist
A movie adaptation of a book about the making of a movie. That's a tough line to follow, but The Disaster Artist delivers on all levels. Not only does it faithfully recreate the events in its source material, it does so with a cast that has incredible chemistry together and gives insight into the creation of a film many have wondered about for years: The Room.
Worst: Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
A great example of all style, no substance. While visually Valerian may have taken a lot of inspiration from the comic books it was based on, the plot was lacking--and sometimes incoherent. Combine that with a cast that had trouble carrying the film and you have an adaptation that simple missed the mark. In the end, it paid for it at the box office.
Best: The Handmaid's Tale
While this adaptation is done incredibly well, so much of what makes The Handmaid's Tale work has to do with timing. At a point in time where "topple the patriarchy" has become the battle cry of those protesting the treatment of women, this Hulu series took a novel from 1985 about women rising up against their extreme oppression and made it all the more important in 2017.
Worst: The Mummy
An adaptation so bad that it sunk a proposed cinematic universe before it even started. The Mummy was meant to relaunch the Universal monsters in their own films. Unfortunately, a weak plot, subpar acting, and Tom Cruise becoming the titular Mummy doomed this particular adaptation, which bombs at the box office.
Best: It
It had the task of following a beloved TV adaptation of the Stephen King novel that hadn't aged very well at all. Rather than relying on the nostalgia of that version of the story, the film mostly stuck to the novel, while making some choices to carve its own path. The silliness of the original was swapped out for terrifying, the hokey for dramatic. The new It also wisely changed the time period to the 1980s, meaning the eventual sequel will be set in modern day.
Best: Kong: Skull Island
King Kong is a story that's been told on film dating back to 1933. Skull Island is the latest take and manages to not only craft the interesting and exciting tale of saving the giant ape from a group that was it dead but opens the story up to a much larger cinematic universe. It's hard not to be excited about the prospect of a modern day King Kong vs. Godzilla showdown on the big screen.
Best: Saban's Power Rangers
While Saban's Power Rangers wasn't a massive hit with audiences, it's as good an adaptation as the long-running TV franchise could ever hope for. Getting rid of the sillier aspects of the show, Power Rangers showed the evolution of five troubled teens-turned-superheroes, as they came to terms with being the world's only hope. Still, there should have been more time spent with them in-costume.
Best: Spider-Man: Homecoming
It turns out third try was the charm for getting a great adaptation of Spider-Man. After two movie series failed to capture the true spirit of the comic book source material, Sony collaborated with Marvel to not only bring Spidey to the MCU, but give him a more grounded adventure fit for the young web-slinger and aspiring Avenger.
By Anonymous on Dec 26, 2017 09:30 pm From returning favorites to intense new dramas to charming new comedies, this was an incredible year for television. Here are our Top 10 TV Shows of 2017!
Overwatch cosplay had a strong presence this year at events across the world as fans dressed up as their favorite characters from Blizzard's popular shooter. Check out some of the best cosplayers we saw in 2017!
Technology is ever evolving, and it's an industry that moves fast. While 2017 brought us a slew of new tech toys that include the Xbox One X, Nintendo Switch, and more, there's still a lot of hardware that we want that hasn't hit the market yet. We've compiled a list of components and gadgets that includes advances in displays, VR, AR, GPUs, and more that we hope to release in 2018.
Nvidia Volta GeForce GPUs
Nvidia recently launched its $3,000 Titan V GPU based on the company's new Volta micro-architecture. The card is capable of delivering 110 teraflops of performance, but it's prohibitively expensive and is designed for data scientists. Hopefully the Titan V paves the way for Volta-based GeForce cards geared towards gamers in 2018. We're hoping that it maintains the Titan V's efficient 12nm manufacturing process along with the newer high-bandwidth memory 2 (HBM2) video RAM. Nvidia claims that Volta is twice as power-efficient as the company's Pascal architecture, so it sounds really promising from a performance perspective.
HDR OLED Gaming Monitors
Companies like Asus, Acer, and Dell have teased HDR monitors in 2017, but there aren't many options out on the market at the moment. HDR OLED gaming monitors, which can provide true black levels with their individually backlit pixels, are non-existent. While you can purchase 4K HDR TVs today, hopefully 2018 brings HDR OLED gaming monitors to the fold. The colors and contrast that they would offer would be a very welcomed option.
Project Santa Cruz From Oculus
We first heard about Oculus' Project Santa Cruz headset when the company revealed it back in 2016. We got a glimpse of a newer prototype in October of this year. While no release date has been set, we're hoping that Oculus releases it in 2018. What makes Project Santa Cruz special is that it's wireless like Samsung's Gear VR, but supports six degrees of positional tracking that the Rift offers. This means you'll effectively be able to lean into virtual objects and get room-scale support without any external trackers.
AMD Ryzen 2 CPUs
AMD asserted itself as a true competitor once again in 2017 with the Ryzen family of CPUs. These processors offered unprecedented value and ushered in affordability for eight- and six-core CPUs. But AMD's just getting started; the company is slated to roll out Ryzen 2 in 2018, which will be more efficient with a 12nm manufacturing process. The new chips will use the same socket type (AM4), and should support a wider variety of DDR4 memory speeds and even better overclockability.
Based on AMD's CPU roadmap, we can expect new chips to hit the market by March. When it comes to PC gaming, Ryzen chips offer competent in-game performance while providing plenty of computational overhead for efficient streaming. Video producers get much more for their dollar with Ryzen's multicore processors, making AMD the go-to manufacturer for those on a budget.
Wireless VR Conversion Kits
Because VR requires a low-latency signal to mitigate motion sickness, all the major VR headsets use cables, which is cumbersome. However, we've seen third-party devices from companies like TPCast, which allow headsets like the Vive to go wireless. There are reports that it interrupts the headset's microphone, however, and initial reports suggest battery life isn't great. What we'd like to see in 2018 is for companies like HTC and Oculus to officially release their own fully-supported attachments that will allow their respective headsets to go wireless.
Intel GPUs, Powerful Integrated Graphics
Intel has been making big moves in the GPU space lately. The company's Iris integrated graphics tech and "Gen" architecture has been relatively strong, but having brought on AMD's former head of the Radeon graphics division, it seems Intel is poised for something big in the graphics space in near future. The company could be trying to get back in the discrete market space after a 20-year hiatus there.
Of course it's too early to say what Intel is up to with much certainty, and what the market would look like with a third major GPU manufacturer in the market. If you speculate based on what Intel is already doing, you may be led to believe that the company might try and significantly bolster graphics in notebooks.
AMD Vega Refresh, Mid-Range Options or Enthusiast-Level Card
Now that we no longer have to 'wait for Vega,' we can look to how AMD is going to make its next step after setting a strong foundation with its RX Vega 64 and RX Vega 56 GPUs. At the mid-range and budget-level, AMD offers the RX 500-series, which was a simple refresh of its older RX 400-series, but it'd be nice to see a more affordable Vega-architecture card in 2018. Considering that the Vega 56 is $400 MSRP, something cheaper would be much appreciated.
A refresh of the current Vega cards is also a good prospect. Both current models use a lot more power than their Nvidia competitors. Also, an AMD card to stand up to the GTX 1080 Ti seems plausible.
High Refresh Rate 4K Monitors
4K displays have become much more affordable in 2017. But while ultra-high definition displays went more mainstream, many PC enthusiasts have opted for high refresh rate monitors, trading in pixel count for higher performance. Refresh rate dictates the number of frames a certain screen can display at any second; high-end 1080p and 1440p monitors will have a 144Hz refresh rate instead of the standard 60Hz. As of now, 4K monitors on the market only reach 60Hz. High refresh rate 4K monitors would be the next step for displays in PC gaming.
However, there's a bit of a catch. To take advantage of the hertz increase, your PC has to be powerful enough to produce those higher framerates. The only GPUs capable of high FPS in 4K are enthusiast-level cards (GTX 1080, RX Vega 64, GTX 1080 Ti), and even these GPUs sometimes struggle to maintain 60 FPS. 4K high refresh monitors would need to come out alongside the next generation GPUs for them to be truly worthwhile.
N64 Classic
Considering we got the NES classic in 2016, and the SNES Classic in 2017, it stands to reason that we'll get an N64 Classic in 2018, or at least we hope. While the N64 didn't feature the deepest game library in existence, it produced gems like Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Mario Party, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The N64 also suffered from frame rate dips, but if Nintendo could re-release a tiny version of the console that irons out the performance issues so that all of its games would run at a consistent 60 FPS, that would be amazing. It should, of course, also support four controllers. The icing on the cake would be if GoldenEye 64 came with it, though that is admittedly a pipe dream considering the game's rights have changed significantly since it came out in 1997.
Hololens
When Microsoft initially revealed the HoloLens in 2015, the AR headset showed tremendous potential. It was able to project believable tracked holograms into living rooms without the need for external sensors. This meant you could see a little Minecraft cave etched into a wall or see virtual characters walking around a real house. Unfortunately, the headset has only been sold as dev kits for $3,000. We also haven't heard much from Microsoft about it since. Hopefully 2018 will be the year Microsoft's AR headset makes a resurgence and releases to consumers.
Game of Thrones' seventh season was a rollercoaster. Fully untethered from the source material provided by George R.R. Martin's novels, the show often felt like--and pretty much has become--the realization of a fan's wildest dreams. Characters like Daenerys "Dany" Targaryen and Jon Snow, separated in years past, finally met; long-awaited battles were fought that dramatically change the balance of power between warring rulers; the trio of dragons made its way to Westeros to bring destruction to their master's enemies; and theories that were percolating for decades were confirmed or denied.
It shouldn't be surprising, considering all of this, that season 7 was also one of the most uneven of the show to date, full of some of the highest highs and lowest lows of HBO's television adaptation. We've gone through it, episode by episode, to point these out.
Here our ranking of the episodes of Game of Thrones season 7, from worst to best.
7. Episode 6: "Beyond the Wall"
The penultimate episode of the season is mostly taken up with Jon and friends' strange decision to trek into the frozen north in order to retrieve a "living" wight that can be presented as evidence of the looming threat to naysayers at King's Landing. Things, of course, go awry, and we end up watching characters inexplicably warp across great distances in order to facilitate a showdown in which one of Dany's dragons is lost to the White Walkers. Messy and rushed, this episode doesn't end well for anyone involved, fictional characters or viewers.
Best Moment: The Undead Polar Bear In The Storm
Regardless of anything else, the appearance of an undead polar bear in the middle of a snowstorm is a great, frightening scene.
Worst Moment: The Sudden Dragons
Geography is important to Game of Thrones. The movement of armies--their speed in getting from place to place--has a great impact on the strategies of the world's warring factions. "Beyond the Wall" discards any consideration for even the faintest realism for the sake of a cheapened surprise moment: Dany arriving with her dragons just as Jon and his comrades are about to be overtaken by the White Walkers.
6. Episode 5: "Eastwatch"
An episode mostly focused on moving various pieces into position for plot developments to come, "Eastwatch" doesn't have much to recommend it. A few good moments don't make up for an hour of television that plays out more like a lavishly produced Wikipedia summary than interesting drama.
Best Moment: Tyrion And Jaime, Reunited
The rapid pace of Season 7 didn't leave much room for the kind of quiet character interactions that make up many of Game of Thrones' best moments. Fortunately, "Eastwatch" requires a scene in which brothers Jaime and Tyrion meet in secret, allowing for a tense moment carried not by action or plot revelations, but great dialogue and acting.
Worst Moment: Arya Finds Sansa's Traitorous Letter
It's important for one of the finale's plot twists that Arya and Sansa find themselves at odds after their initial reunion, but the script never fully justifies why the two sisters are so willing to distrust one another. Arya's anger at finding the letter Sansa was coerced to write after their father's death, urging Robb to stop his rebellion, is one of the worst moments in a bad plotline.
5. Episode 1: "Dragonstone"
The season began with an episode that was mostly concerned with setting the table for everything else to come. Characters arrive at new destinations or we catch up with where they were when the previous season ended. While not necessarily bad, the premiere wasn't exactly exciting.
Best Moment: Dany Returns To Westeros At Last
Readers and viewers alike have been teased with Dany's return to Westeros for a long, long time. The opening of Season 7 finally saw her arrive, coming ashore on the island of Dragonstone and setting in motion the much anticipated open war between her forces and those of the reigning House Lannister.
Worst Moment: Arya Poisons The Freys
While seeing the two-faced Frey family finally receive their comeuppance for facilitating the Red Wedding is great, Arya's disguise is far too silly to give the scene of long-awaited revenge the gravity it deserves.
4. Episode 7: "The Dragon and the Wolf"
Season finale "The Dragon and the Wolf" is packed with surprises. From Cersei's faked alliance with Jon and Dany to the arrival of the White Walkers--and their undead dragon--at the quickly-destroyed Wall, the show ended on a cliffhanger that's making the continued wait for Season 8 very difficult.
Best Moment: Dany And Jon, Together At Last (Ew)
Dany and Jon's romance had to become reality at some point and, in this episode, it did. It also happened to coincide with the long theorized revelation that they're also related. Confirming Jon's stakes-changing parentage is a huge moment. Pairing the reveal with a scene of him having sex with his aunt is as hilarious as it is shocking.
Worst Moment: Sansa And Arya's Littlefinger Plot Is Revealed
The scene in which Sansa and Arya show that they were only acting like they were, for some reason, going to murder each other in order to set up Littlefinger is among the worst of the season. Defying everything we know about the two characters up until this point just to spring a finale plot twist is one of the clumsiest writing decisions in the show to date.
3. Episode 3: "The Queen's Justice"
"The Queen's Justice" sees Dany and Jon meet for the first time, leading to an unexpectedly tense exchange between two powerful rulers with mutual goals. The episode also features a surprise Lannister victory over the Highgarden armies, which is shown a bit too quickly to hold the dramatic impact such a huge turn of events deserved. Still, there are several great moments in this early episode.
Best Moment: Olenna Gets The Last Word
Having captured the indomitable Olenna Tyrell, Jaime grants her a merciful death rather than return her to his ruthless sister. Far from being cowed by her impending death, Olenna uses her last minutes of life to finally reveal to Jaime that she was responsible for the death of his son. It's a great character moment and one of the most cutting instances of revenge in a show packed with them.
Worst Moment: Bran's Grown Up To Be A Complete Jerk
Bran's return to Winterfell and reunion with his sister Sansa should be a heartwarming moment. Instead, Bran is now depicted as an insufferable, cold-hearted jerk after his mind-opening voyage beyond the Wall. He speaks in vague sentences like a first-year university student who just completed an Intro to Philosophy class. His change in character should be an interesting development, but it's too much of a departure from what came before to feel in any way natural.
2. Episode 2: "Stormborn"
After a fairly dull premiere, "Stormborn" gets Season 7 moving. Dany begins forming the strategy she hopes will win her the Iron Throne, Jon's summoned to an audience with her, we see Arya beginning her journey back to Winterfell, and the first major battle of the new season takes place. A good balance of intimate dialogue and large-scale action makes this one of the best episodes of the year.
Best Moment: The Sea Battle
Though the direction of the ship-to-ship fighting is a bit too disorienting to work as well as it should, Yara and Theon's confrontation with their bloodthirsty uncle Euron is as brutal and tense as it ought to be. The final moments in which a terrified Theon flees his defeated sister in a crucial moment is heartbreaking, too.
Worst Moment: The Scab Cure
So gross it almost wraps around to being good, Sam's experimental greyscale treatment results in a grotesque scene in which removing the giant, rocky scabs infecting poor Jorah's flesh results in some of the grossest practical effects of the entire show.
1. Episode 4: "The Spoils of War"
While most of this episode is a competent continuation of plot threads introduced by the season so far, it ends in one of the most grandiose combat sequences the show has ever seen. At long last, Dany's army fights a battle against Westerosi forces and the result is stunning.
Best Moment: A Chaotic Battle
The scale of the battle that ends "The Spoils of War" is immense. Thundering horses and a fire-breathing dragon create a believable sense of complete chaos and terror. Jaime and Bronn's actors do a wonderful job selling the utter fear of being suddenly confronted with a creature out of legend, and their actions in the fight to come, both brave and reckless, help humanize what could've been a hollow special effects showcase.
Worst Moment: The Surprise Army
Though the ensuing battle makes it worthwhile, the sudden approach of Dany's dragons and Dothraki army is goofy enough to start the scene off on the wrong foot. You don't have to be a stickler for realism to think it's still pretty silly that a few hundred charging horses couldn't be heard at least a little bit further in advance.
To refer to L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files simply as a VR port does it a disservice. In many ways, the game feels like a fresh experience with its new first-person perspective coupled with interactive environments. Despite its truncated length, you get the sense that Rockstar put a lot of work into The VR Case Files. It certainly has flaws, but raises the bar for what a good VR port should look like.
You play as the familiar detective Cole Phelps as he tries to solve several, mostly unrelated crimes within 1940s Los Angeles. Perhaps the biggest difference between The VR Case Files is that it only features seven missions, which provide roughly six to eight hours of gameplay. This is down from 21 cases in the original game and means that you lose the nuances from LA Noire's overarching narrative. If you've never before experienced it in its entirety, it will be confusing seeing a new partner for each mission without any added context. Due to the missions' very episodic nature, however, it largely still works.
Talking with other characters makes up the bulk of the experience, but you still need to move around the city. The most straightforward method is to hold down the right trackpad and alternatively swing your arms side to side to virtually walk in the direction you're facing. It can feel a little janky at times as some slight unwanted drifting may occur, but it gets the job done. The second, perhaps more nausea-free way to move, is to gaze at highlighted areas of interest and then press down on the trackpad to teleport.
The VR Case Files has been completely overhauled so that you can pick up a wide variety of highlighted objects in the world. It's not quite up to the level of Job Simulator in interactivity, but Rockstar does a good job of convincing you that LA Noire was built from the ground up for VR. You can pick up plates, cups, and more and just toss them around as you see fit. Where this added interactivity becomes really impactful is when, for instance, you're standing over a lifeless corpse examining how the person died. In general, the new first-person perspective bolsters the illusion that you're a detective by allowing you to pick up and examine clues like you might in real life. It makes you think about evidence in a new light.
Not all these interactions are positive, however. For instance, you may have to hold a match book with one hand and then use your other hand to flip it open to look for additional clues inside. While these occurrences might not be a big deal in the base game where the solution is simply a button press away, the answer isn't as obvious in VR when you don't know what objects might have a second layer of interactivity using your free hand. Luckily, these instances are pretty rare.
One the bright side, the new fist fighting mechanics feel like a surprisingly fun boxing minigame. Using room scale, you can get out of the way of punches and throw your own back at opponents. Characters react appropriately when hit, and punches feel very satisfying to land.
In general, the The VR Case Files has a lot of nice little VR touches. When you're interrogating suspects, for instance, you hold a little detective booklet with all your clues in one hand, and you've got a pen in the other, which you use to select your line of questioning. You can even use the pen to write in the notebook. There's really no meaningful benefit to the added mechanic, but it's fun drawing silly pictures while you're interrogating a suspect.
Driving has also been completely revamped. Since the game now takes place in first-person, car cabins are now meticulously detailed. To drive, you use the Vive controller to place your hands on the virtual steering wheel, but before you zip around town, you'll need to start the engine by turning the key in the ignition. There are a bunch of nice little touches here that really make you feel like you're sitting in a real car. For instance, you can use your palm to press down on the horn to honk, and you can even manually roll down the windows. The trigger on the right controller allows you to accelerate, and the trigger on the left allows you to break. Driving works as well as you'd hope given this control scheme, and it's fun trying to weave through traffic as you chase runaway vehicles. You can also drive around the city at your leisure. While there really isn't anything to do on the road other than to engage in some virtual tourism, it's nice just driving through a realistically rendered rendition of 1940s LA.
Visually, the graphics and artstyle work wonderfully in VR. While the unique motion captured performances look fantastic in the base game, I had some concern that they might take you out of the experience in VR, considering it's a new first-person perspective that gives you more movement agency to disrupt the pre-captured performances. Surprisingly, however, Rockstar employs head tracking, so characters will often look your way, even when you're moving around them.
The VR version isn't without its flaws, however. While the few shooting sequences are often exciting, and the gun models look and feel accurate based on how you reload them, aiming is often imprecise. Furthermore, even though 99 percent of the game takes place in first-person, there are brief moments when the game switches to a more traditional third-person perspective, which can be a little jarring.
While the game encourages you to physically sit in a chair when the situation calls for it, there's the occasional bug that makes it look like you're a super small person with tiny hands when you're playing seated.
While L.A. Noire: The VR Case Files has its flaws, it excels at making you feel and think like a detective in a way that the base game can't. The VR version isn't a replacement for the full game, but it's a great companion that allows you to play the greatest hit moments from Rockstar's noire opus in a welcomed new way.
WWE circled its wagons in 2017. If 2016 was the year they turned towards the future, 2017 was the year they retreated to safer territory. The old guard reasserted itself. AJ Styles is the WWE champion. Brock Lesnar is the WWE Universal champion. The Shield is reunited. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are back on Raw. And Roman Reigns? He's still The Guy, without question.
This year was a clashing combo of nostalgia and freshness--of saying goodbye to veteran monsters like The Undertaker and saying hello to new monsters like Braun Strowman. Here are the highlights of the past 12 months.
"Yo Big E, let's just keep it PG, you know what's good/Just don't get all Rated-R like your boy, Xavier Woods."
"Now, Jim. You and your brother, you're tag champs. You turned the Universe into believers/But please always remember you were absolutely nothing until your wife put you on Total Divas."
Back in the old days, WWE Superstars always cut their own promos; their responsibility was to themselves rather than the company. This segment made a great argument for reverting back to that and allowing wrestlers to be themselves.
9. The Hardy Boyz Return At WrestleMania
The rumors were flying because the Hardys were in the Orlando area and WrestleMania 33 was at the Citrus Bowl. If there was ever an opportunity to have a shocking surprise entrant in the Raw Tag Team championship match, this was it. And lo and behold, right before the match began, The New Day came out to announce a surprise entrant. Then came the familiar drums of the Hardys' entrance. And the crowd roared.
It was a nostalgic roller coaster for the fans, but it was also a milestone for both brothers, who struggled with addiction and injuries in their time away from WWE. Now, they were back, healthy, and able to perform their high flying stunts. It was a symbolic triumph, made literal when they won the match and the titles to go along with it.
8. Chris Jericho Presents: The Festival of Friendship
Somewhere in the midst of his budding bromance with Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho became a babyface. He cheated for Kevin Owens every week, but he also had The List, a fantastic comedic device that got him over with the fans. The fan love for Jericho seemed to build at the same rate as his scarf length.
So by the time Jericho threw his Festival of Friendship for Kevin Owens, he was getting more cheers than boos. And every single part of this segment killed: the entrance with Vegas showgirls, the Sistine Chapel "Creation of Man" painting with Owens and Jericho's heads photoshopped on, the Gillberg cameo, and, finally, Owens' betrayal, which was surprisingly heartfelt and sad. It's up there with Shawn Michaels' betrayal of Marty Jannetty. Jericho even went through a glass screen, a clear callback to Brutus Beefcake's barber shop window.
7. Paige Returns With Backup
Who would have guessed that Paige would return to WWE in any way, shape, or form? After a tumultuous romantic relationship (which was, according to Paige's brother, abusive), a catastrophic neck injury, two failed Wellness Policy drug tests, and a trove of leaked personal pictures and videos, one would have reasonably thought that Paige had used up her last chance. It had been a year since WWE fans had seen her on television.
But then she appeared on Raw, all smiles, with NXT backup flanking her on both sides. Paige was not only back on the main roster; she was back on top of the division. In her first televised singles match, she pinned Sasha Banks cleanly. Clearly, she has a guardian angel backstage (perhaps Triple H?) looking out for her. It was like she never left in the first place.
6. The Miz and Maryse Take Down Total Bellas
The WrestleMania build-up to Miz and Maryse vs. John Cena and Nikki Bella had zero heat. There was no stakes-driven storyline that gave them a reason to fight--no title on the line for someone to lose and someone else to win. But The Miz and Maryse did everything they could to make it matter. It was one of the worst matches at WrestleMania. But it certainly had the best set-up.
In the weeks leading up to the show, The Miz dressed up on John Cena, Maryse dressed up as Nikki Bella, and they performed a hilarious parody of Total Bellas. They made fun of Cena's lack of commitment and backstage clout. They made fun of Bella's materialism and desperation to be married. And it was all mean, immature, vicious fun.
5. "This Is My Yard Now."
Depending who you are, this could be one of the worst WWE moments of 2017. But even Roman Reigns haters can admit: This Raw segment was an epic trolling that worked in every way it was supposed to.
The night prior, Roman Reigns pinned and retired The Undertaker in the main event of WrestleMania 33. On most nights, Reigns gets a mixed reaction. But after ending the career of a living legend, Reigns was reviled. And from the time his music hit, to the time he walked back behind the curtain, the fans in attendance booed for 10 straight minutes.
4. The Shield Reunites
Nostalgia is a powerful thing. When The Shield finally reunited after multiple false starts, the audience response was uniformly positive. WWE's adult fans were so happy that they started cheering Roman Reigns instead of booing him. The Shield gives Reigns a take-no-prisoners edge that he decidedly lacks as a solo star.
Why did WWE choose this moment to reunite one of its greatest stables? Probably because it wants Reigns to get a more positive response leading into WrestleMania. And although it's worked in the short term, it'll be interesting to see how it works in the long term. The Shield will inevitably break up again, and Reigns will be on his own. And the adult fans might go right back to booing him.
3. John Cena Ties Ric Flair's World Championship Record
In a very short amount of time--starting from his initial feud with Kevin Owens in 2015 and lasting to his 2017 feud with AJ Styles--WWE fans have warmed up to John Cena. For years, he got a mixed, down-the-middle response. Half the fans bought into his Never-Give-Up schtick and the other half just wanted to see someone else in the main event.
But then, Owens pinned Cena cleanly. Styles pinned Cena cleanly. Shinsuke Nakamura pinned Cena cleanly. And that vulnerability has made him relatable and likeable again. His match against AJ Styles at the 2017 Royal Rumble was not only one of the best matches of the year; it was also the match that tied John Cena's championship record with Ric Flair. They are now both credited with 16 world title wins, and it's only a matter of time before Cena surpasses that.
2. Matt Hardy Becomes #Woken
Matt Hardy is officially #woken and more eccentric than ever. Up until recently, he only performed his TNA gimmick in subtle ways--by performing his delete taunt, for example, or by mugging for the camera with "broken" facial expressions.
This segment, right here, is how to book a monster to succeed in WWE.
This Raw segment came on the heels of Reigns defeating and retiring The Undertaker at WrestleMania 33. The fans, even the ones who supported Reigns, were furious. WWE, rather than ignoring that anger, harnessed it and let the fans get it out of their system. And they sent Braun Strowman in as an audience avatar, to administer the beating of a lifetime.
One of Reigns' most underrated talents is his ability to sell. And he sold every second of this beatdown, where Strowman threw Reigns into walls, slammed him onto hard surfaces, rammed rolling carts against him, threw his ambulance stretcher down a flight of stairs, and finally tipped over the entire ambulance. These segments required camera angles, wire work, and stand-in dummies to keep Roman safe. But at first glance, it was an extremely convincing, visceral display of violence.
After this segment, Strowman was a made man. He was more than just a giant; he was a force of nature, the closest thing WWE had to a comic book villain. And that's why his beatdown of Roman Reigns is the greatest WWE moment of 2017.
Each week brings a collection of new trailers for upcoming movies and TV shows. It's never easy to find the right balance between properly introducing a new film and giving away too much. Some trailers find that sweet spot and excite you in a way that even seeing the movie itself can't. You may never forget the feeling you had the first time you saw the trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi and realized how major a role Luke Skywalker would play in the film.
Then again, other times they miss the mark by a mile. After all, you can't always make a terrible movie look good. Isn't that right, The Mummy?
GameSpot revisited the year in trailers and found the best and worst from the worlds of film and TV. Did your favorite make the cut or merit a place in the honorable mentions? Read on to find out and let us know what your most loved and hated trailers of the year were in the comments below!
Best trailers
10. Annihilation
Annihilation's trailer is one that everyone should see. It sets up the plot of the movie, while giving away almost nothing. After watching, you know Natalie Portman leads a team of armed women into an environmental disaster and runs into all kinds of bizarre creatures and dangers. Without spoiling anything, the Annihilation trailer has tempted audiences into its bizarre world.
9. Star Wars: The Last Jedi
How can you not include the first trailer for The Last Jedi? This early look at Episode VIII set the stage for a massive battle between the light and dark sides of the Force and reintroduced fans to Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Plus, it gave the world Porgs! What's not to love? Unless you hate Porgs, in which case you may not have a soul.
8. The Shape of Water
Guillermo del Toro's other-worldly fairy tale captivated us right from the first shot. Opening the door to this underwater tale reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz. This trailer showed the director going back to his dark fantasy roots with a narrator guiding us along with expertly cut visuals through a monotonous day in the life of our protagonist Elisa--this is up until the moment we're hit with the reveal of a strange aquatic creature. This trailer lured us in with its mysterious story and wonderful cast, and never let us go.
7. Avengers: Infinity War
Fans have been waiting for the Infinity War trailer since Marvel first announced the movie in 2014, and it certainly didn't disappoint. Infinity War will bring together the Avengers, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and almost every other major Marvel hero in the MCU in order to take down Thanos. This film is an epic undertaking, and the trailer manages to hit all the right parts without giving too much away. And we hope Marvel keeps it that way in the future trailers for this monumental film.
6. Crisis on Earth-X
Nazis, evil doppelgangers, superheroes, and a wedding. The trailer for Crisis on Earth-X--the 2017 crossover event featuring Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl--was the superhero team-up everyone needed in 2017. When Justice League let fans down, the CW superheroes picked up the slack with a trailer and event that was more than good enough for the big screen.
5. The Disaster Artist
The first trailer for The Disaster Artist was the perfect tease. It introduced the world to director Tommy Wiseau--and James Franco's portrayal of him--with the creation of one of the most iconic scenes in all of The Room. Oh hi, Disaster Artist!
4. Dunkirk
The Dunkirk teaser didn't show much, but it certainly left its mark. At this point of his career, Nolan doesn't need to show much to get us to buy a ticket. Keeping the teaser at about one minute, Dunkirk produces a bit of intensity, while giving slight callbacks to Saving Private Ryan. This teaser hit all the right buttons; it offered little plot details, epic visuals, and a stunning conclusion.
3. Thor: Ragnarok
After Thor: The Dark World, there wasn't much excitement for a third installment. But Marvel was determined to fix its Asgardian hero. Adding Taika Waititi to helm was the perfect move to change the tone and give a fresh face to the franchise. This trailer delivers on all the right notes--Including the perfect use of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song." We've seen this film a dozen times now, but this trailer still gives us chills.
2. Stranger Things 2
Stranger Things 2 was already one of the most anticipated shows of the year, which is why it has two trailers worthy of a spotlight. When its first trailer was built around Michael Jackson's "Thriller," though, it became truly iconic. Nothing sets the tone for Halloween in the '80s more than Michael Jackson and Ghostbusters costumes. The final trailer, though, removed the fun and silly feel of the "Thriller" teaser, instead replacing it with the dread and terror all too common to the Upside Down.
1. The Crown Season 2
Watching a period drama about the political rivalries, romance, and the rise of Queen Elizabeth may not sound too appealing to you. But trust us, this trailer for Season 2 of The Crown is exceptional. This trailer is epic because of its crisp visuals, but I=it's unforgettable due to its seamless bond to the music and score. This succeeds as both an advertisement and a piece of art; after watching the trailer, you want to watch this season, without having watched the first!
Honorable mentions:
Logan
The first look at Logan set the appropriate tone for the R-rated extension of the X-Men universe. With Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" providing the soundtrack, fans were introduced to a much older Logan as he and Xavier prepared for one final mission.
Marvel's The Punisher
The trailer for Marvel's The Punisher did more for developing the character of Frank Castle than the entire second season of Daredevil. In just two minutes, the first look at Punisher's standalone series dug deep into Castle's tortured past as it set the table for the carnage that was to come.
Red Sparrow
The trailer for Red Sparrow works so well because it gives fans who have been dying for a Black Widow spin-off in the Marvel Cinematic Universe exactly what they want--except with Jennifer Lawrence instead of Scarlett Johansson. The movie has yet to release, but first impressions are everything and Red Sparrow's was great.
Black Panther
The visuals, music, and action take the best pieces of the MCU and make it feel new again. This is a trailer that prepares audiences to enter a very different piece of a well-known world and makes it feel like a truly unique adventure. Bonus points for including The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.
Worst trailers:
The Avengers: Infinity War Fan Reaction Teaser
Throw a rock at YouTube, and you'll hit a trailer reaction video. Still, Marvel piecing them together as a teaser for Avengers: Infinity War was not only an incredibly unoriginal thing to do but a grating choice as well.
The Mummy
While the first trailer for The Mummy made it clear this was a Tom Cruise movie, it didn't explain how it was a Mummy movie other than a brief look at the antagonist. Given that this was meant to kick off a new franchise of Universal monster films, perhaps it should have made that a bit more clear.
CHiPs
The trailer for CHiPs, like the movie itself, leaves much to be desired. It shows that the film has little to do with the TV series it's based on and, instead, is a collection of dirty jokes and explosions wrapped up in a cops on motorcycles story. While in the hands of some, that could be fun to watch, this first look promises nothing worth waiting for.
Monster Trucks
The trailer for Monster Trucks was about what you'd expect from a movie where a friendly alien becomes one with a pickup truck. However, it did the film no favors in getting anyone excited. Whether it was introducing 27-year-old actor Lucas Till as a high school student, how cartoony the creature looked, or the main character taking selfies with the alien, nothing about this trailer works.
Both Sony's PlayStation Network and Nintendo's Eshop online services are currently suffering outages. The timing of these isn't ideal, given that it's Christmas day and many new PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch owners are likely trying to connect to the services to redeem or play games.
Sony has acknowledged the issues on Twitter, saying it is "aware that some users are having issues redeeming vouchers on PSN." However, reports from Twitter users trying to play their PS4s suggest the issues extend beyond just the ability to redeem vouchers, and that people are having trouble connecting to the online service as a whole.
Nintendo, meanwhile, has also said it is working on addressing connection issues some people are having. "We apologize for any issues you may be experiencing with Nintendo eShop," it said in a tweet. "We are working on it and hope to have this resolved soon."
While various members of the GameSpot staff have encountered some outage today with both services, the PlayStation Network and Nintendo eShop seem to have largely recovered and, currently, the earlier issues have smoothed out. Those having trouble connecting to the PlayStation Network or Eshop should give it a little time and it will no doubt sort itself out. There's probably lots of turkey and stuffing for you to eat in the mean time.
This downtime is nothing compared to the nightmarish scenario from December 2014, when both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network were hacked and unavailable for considerable amounts of time. Thankfully, it doesn't look like we have a repeat of that right now.
From returning favorites to intense new dramas to charming new comedies, this was an incredible year for television. Here are our Top 10 TV Shows of 2017!
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