Movie Review: Gunpowder Milkshake

Within the first few scenes of Gunpowder Milkshake- the latest from Israeli B-movie filmmaker Navot Papushado that just arrived on Netflix in the US- it establishes itself as arguably the most pure descendent of John Wick yet. Gunpowder Milkshake's tale of a second generation elite assassin (Karen Gillan) who reluctantly reaches out to her estranged mother (Lena Headey) and the members of her old organization (Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh, Carla Gugino) after a botched job puts her in the crosshairs of multiple prominent groups of trained killers and she's forced to go on the run with the daughter (Chloe Coleman) of a slain target does the bare minimum from a storytelling perspective, and instead lets the bloody action, neon-tinged noir atmosphere and magnetism of the cast lead the way. 

While not without its rough patches-particularly when it decides to dive into the mother/daughter separation subplot in the middle of the film-this style over substance strategy mostly pays off. Papushado boasts a great feel for pacing as well as a sharp visual eye, the leading ladies develop a pretty great group dynamic in a chaotic setting that doesn't allow for many character moments and the kinetic action sequences are infused with a refreshing amount of creativity (in terms of both situations the characters are put in and the weapons they use) and humor. Outside of Nobody, Gunpowder Milkshake is the most satisfying action thriller of 2021 to date that will hopefully go down as just the first of many standouts to be released during this unusually active July-September period for the genre.   

Grade: B+

Don Cheadle Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked"-where I rank a franchise or filmography and hand out assorted relevant accolades. This week, I'm profiling the work of Don Cheadle-whose latest project "Space Jam: A New Legacy" arrives in theaters and on HBO Max this Friday. 

Don Cheadle Filmography's Ranked:

23.Ocean's Twelve (D-)

22.Avengers: Age of Ultron (D+)

21.After the Sunset (D+)

20.Volcano (C-)

19.Crash (C+)

18.Mission to Mars (C+)

17.Iron Man 2 (C+)

16.Traitor (B-)

15.No Sudden Move (B-)

14.Brooklyn's Finest (B-)

13.Boogie Nights (B-)

12.The Guard (B-)

11.Traffic (B)

10.Talk to Me (B)

9.Reign Over Me (B)

8.Swordfish (B+)

7.Flight (B+)

6.Ocean's Thirteen (B+)

5.Hotel Rwanda (B+)

4.Out of Sight (A-)

3.Iron Man 3 (A)

2.Avengers: Infinity War (A)

1.Ocean's Eleven (A)

Top Dog: Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Watching No Sudden Move's initial promise get derailed by overcomplicated plotting was a reminder that Steven Soderbergh's success in the heist genre is dependent on keeping things slick and straightforward. Case in point: his career highpoint Ocean's Eleven. Powered by a charismatic ensemble cast (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Cheadle, Andy Garcia, the late Bernie Mac and Carl Reiner, about 62 others), vibrant Las Vegas setting and Soderbergh's signature sharp visuals, this remake of the iconic 1960 Rat Pack film effortlessly solidifies itself as a masterclass in non-stop, electrifying entertainment.  

Lowlight: Ocean's Twelve (2004)

Ocean's Twelve is the complete antithesis of its predecessor. Where Ocean's Eleven is a simple, wall-to-wall party, Ocean's Twelve is a joyless disaster that loses sight of its proven winning identity by suffocating any chance of fun developing with a needlessly convoluted, witless plot that is centered around a boring heist. 

Most Underrated: Swordfish (2001)

Seeing a 20th anniversary piece on Swordfish appear on the Yahoo! homepage last month was very surreal and even a little bit jarring. For starters, I'm shocked that it's been 20 years since it was released. Secondly, I didn't think anybody in film media cared enough about Swordfish to voluntarily acknowledge its existence, let alone a milestone anniversary. To be honest, I'm just glad that somebody else out there has fond memories of this dumb little movie. It's a captivating time capsule of the manic cool hacker/nu metal era in action cinema that is made infinitely better by an overqualified cast (John Travolta, Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Cheadle, Sam Shepard, Vinnie Jones) that gleefully commits to its silly material.  

Most Overrated: Boogie Nights (1997)

It takes a special brand of asshole to be critical of Boogie Nights mere moments after talking up Swordfish, but thankfully I'm very qualified to handle that task. Paul Thomas Anderson's breakout project is perhaps the purest showcase of his filmmaking signatures in his entire filmography. There's a plethora of sensational performances, some really striking visuals, the type of sluggish pacing that has the remarkable ability to render exciting topics boring (in this case, the wild west of the 70's porn industry) and an indulgent long runtime (2 hours and 35 minutes) that it never even comes close to justifying.  

Movie Review: Black Widow

COVID gave way to the biggest breather the MCU has had since it really kicked into high gear with the release of The Avengers back in May 2012-with the last film (Spider-Man: Far from Home) being released back in early July 2019. Given that Avengers: Endgame represented the epic closing of a chapter and the fatigue that set in after being bombarded with multiple new films every year, having an unplanned break from this exhaustive world was actually a pretty nice treat. That hiatus from Marvel's primary attraction has finally come to a close with the release of Black Widow and in typical MCU fashion, they re-entered the cinematic space in reliably solid yet completely unremarkable fashion.

Although its been known for a long time that Black Widow was set after the events of Captain America: Civil War, seeing it in practice highlights just how baffling the choice to release this movie now is. As refreshing as it was to unplug from the all the explanatory Multiverse crap that Loki is pedaling for a brief moment, heading back to this chapter in the timeline feels completely unnecessary. All of the fallout from Civil War has long been resolved and none of the gaps Black Widow between the end of that film and the start of Infinity War fills in are overly significant. Seriously, how does Natasha going into hiding, aiming to take down the architect of the Red Room (Ray Winstone in a completely underdeveloped and useless villain role) aka the Russian spy program that robbed her of her chance of living a normal life then eventually acting as the peacemaker between the Steve Rodgers and Tony Stark sides of the Sokovia Accords dispute really change anything in the grand scheme of things?  If anything, using a previous era of this universe that no longer have any relevancy in this world as the backdrop for the lone solo movie of a now deceased original Avenger really just shows how little Marvel gives a shit about this character.

Aside from the hard to avoid questions over the timing of its release, Black Widow generally accomplishes what it set out to do. Tonally, its very much in line with Captain America: The Winter Solider and the aforementioned Civil War-rocking a grim spy plot with dark lighting, minimal levity and a host of quick cut fight scenes where the combatants walk away with real wounds. Romanoff's being forced to confront her past sins as a trained killer is a setup that has an unshakable darkness behind it and really leaning into that with a relatively gritty, cold film that doesn't pull out the inevitable cutesy "all is forgiven" redemption card until the very last minute was the right call.  

Funnily enough for a bleak, action-packed spy flick, Black Widow's best moments come when its dealing with Natasha's long abandoned "family". Director Cate Shortland-who exclusively made indie dramas prior to this-is much more comfortable handling these quiet moments than she is the big CGI setpieces and this greater than usual reliance on scenes with a grounded emotional backbone allows Scarlett Johansson along with MCU newcomers David Harbour, Rachel Weisz and likely future franchise pillar Florence Pugh-who play the other members of the fake family she was briefly apart of during her time as a Red Room spy-get to show off their elite acting chops. While they ultimately did Romanoff dirty by releasing this movie after she died, the degree of empathy they showed by exploring her traumatic past and how she and the people in her orbit handled the divergent paths they headed down once they were separated ensures that her legacy wasn't completely botched.

Will the sequencing and status as an underwhelming swan song for Black Widow matter if her fate is undone by the lazy revival mechanism that the multiverse allows for? Perhaps not. But if Marvel decides to keep Natasha dead and allows Pugh's Yelena to take over the mantle as expected, it'll be hard to shake this film's lack of weight. Johansson did as much as she possibly could to make this character an MCU staple despite consistently being treated as a second fiddle to Iron Man/Captain America/Thor/Spider-Man, and to give this character a second rate sendoff is just disrespectful to the contribution she made in establishing this universe as a cultural force.     

Grade: B

Quick Movie Reviews: Zola, The Forever Purge, No Sudden Move, The Tomorrow War

Zola: 8 years after the satirical hedonistic Florida nightmare that was Spring Breakers, A24 has returned to the Sunshine State for another round of surreal, darkly comedic insanity with Zola. Based on one of the first Twitter threads to go viral back in 2015, Zola is a (mostly) true story about a Detroit-based waitress/stripper (Taylour Paige) who is convinced by a customer she waits on (Riley Keough) to go dance in Tampa Bay for a week. Shortly after arriving in Tampa, Zola realized she's been duped about the real purpose of the trip and quickly becomes an unwitting passenger on a wild journey that involves a whole lot more elicit criminal activity and life-threatening situations than she bargained for when she left Detroit. 

Every single performance from Paige's breakout star turn as the confident, forthright Zola down to Colman Domingo's scene-stealing supporting role as Keough's character alternately ruthless and charismatic pimp is sensational and at just 86 minutes in length, director Janciza Bravo-who also co-wrote the script with Jeremy O. Harris-is able to maximize the impact of this story's shock value, seedy fun and quiet tragedy while seamlessly bringing together those divergent strands of DNA to form a singular cohesive vessel.      

Grade: B+

The Forever Purge: As we sit in the middle of a summer movie slate that's driven by films that were supposed to be released in 2020, no film that's been released in theaters thus far has benefited more from the year on the shelf  than The Forever Purge. A film that's centered around a political party's violent, bigoted rhetoric leading to a group of their supporters carrying out a previously unfathomable coup attempt gains a whole new level of unintended resonance in the wake of January 6th. That's not to say that the plot/messaging of The Forever Purge wouldn't have made an impact if it were released on its originally scheduled July 2020 date, but there's this profoundly urgent, unsettling layer of horror to what's depicted on screen that wouldn't have existed if there wasn't an insurrection attempt in the United States just six months before it was released. 

Even though its not addressed in the most nuanced or intelligent fashion, The Forever Purge continues the franchise's legacy of addressing systemic issues within the United States (this time around, its tribalism, colonialism and the optimistic lens that non-white immigrants view the United States through with despite all the prejudice that's directed at them) that most mainstream modern genre movies wouldn't even consider diving into. If this really is the end of the line for the franchise, it deserves its flowers for being a highly entertaining action/horror franchise that delivered its social commentary in a blunt, visceral fashion that perfectly reflected the mindset of the country it was criticizing and improved with nearly every subsequent installment.         

Grade: B+

No Sudden Move: In what is becoming an all too common occurrence for Steven Soderbergh of late, No Sudden Move manages to dig its own grave by trying to do too much with its narrative. Early on, No Sudden Move is a slickly intriguing crime caper about a pair of low level criminals (Don Cheadle, Benicio del Toro) who have to go on the lamb after getting double crossed by their employer (Brendan Fraser) on a job that was sold to them as being just the simple theft of a document from an accountant's office (David Harbour). The issue is that the scheme and the players involved with it keep widening in scope as the film moves along, eventually leading to an abrupt, needlessly convoluted and deeply unsatisfying conclusion that undoes a lot of the good will Soderbergh's energetic direction and its starry cast (in addition to the aforementioned performers, Julia Fox, Ray Liotta, Jon Hamm, Amy Seimetz, Kieran Culkin, Bill Duke, Noah Jupe and Matt Damon all appear in various capacities) built up in the first half. 

Grade: B-

The Tomorrow War: It's almost too perfect that The Tomorrow War pivoted from a theatrical release to streaming once Paramount sold it off to Amazon earlier this year. Despite being the rare big budget film that's not based on an existing property, The Tomorrow War feels like something that was generated from an algorithm that was looking to make the perfect film to be passively consumed by American audiences. So what type of movie did the almighty lords of artificial intelligence come up with for the sons and daughters of Uncle Sam? An overlong, slightly above average smorgasbord of military propaganda, over-the-top corny family melodrama, nonsensical science talk, slo-mo character deaths for every individual of consequence that doesn't make it to the closing credits, ridiculous plot contrivances, occasional one liners from supporting characters that briefly break the otherwise deadly serious tone and some huge CGI alien fights that show off what $200 million can buy you in Hollywood these days. Just go watch Independence Day, Edge of Tomorrow or any of the other of the other great sci-fi action blockbusters that are available to rent on the same platform instead of giving this aimlessly cobbled together collection of tropes the time of day.      

Grade: C+

Angela Bassett Ranked

Welcome to "Ranked"-where I rank a franchise or filmography from worst to best and hand out assorted relevant accolades. This week, I'm profiling the work of Angela Bassett-whose latest project "Gunpowder Milkshake" arrives on Netflix on July 14th.  

Angela Bassett's Filmography Ranked:

19.Vampire in Brooklyn (D-)

18.Contact (C-)

17.Jumping the Broom (C-)

16.Green Lantern (C)

15.Mr. 3000 (C)

14.This Means War (C)

13.Chi-Raq (C+)

12.London Has Fallen (B-)

11.The Score (B-)

10.Olympus Has Fallen (B-)

9.Kindergarten Cop (B)

8.White Bird in a Blizzard (B)

7.Notorious (B+)

6.Bumblebee (B+)

5.Mission-Impossible: Fallout (B+)

4.Avengers: Endgame (A-)

3.Soul (A)

2.Boyz n the Hood (A)

1.Black Panther (A)

Top Dog: Black Panther (2018)

When Marvel brings in the right people then allows them to make something that isn't just an extended teaser for a future project, they're capable of doing some pretty special shit. Case in point: Black Panther. Ryan Coogler establishes Wakanda as this rich world with a complex history and the actors (Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Ny'ongo, Danai Guerra, Winston Duke, Letita Wright, Daniel Kaluuya, Bassett, Forest Whitaker) breathe so much life into both the power struggle that ensues in the wake of their king T'Chaka (John Kani) being killed in Captain America: Civil War and the traditional superhero beats that need to be hit that the strong emotional hook that this genre so rarely achieves is formed very early on. Continuing this franchise without Boseman at the forefront is going to be an exceptionally difficult challenge, but if anyone can pull it off, it's this team.

Lowlight: Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)

Vampire in Brooklyn is an age old Hollywood cautionary tale of how having high-end talent come together on a project doesn't always lead to high-end results. Horror icon Wes Craven, comedy legend Eddie Murphy and dramatic stalwart Bassett were all inexplicably out of their depths in this dreadful horror comedy that never establishes any real command over its tone, story or downright idiotic vampire mythology.   

Most Underrated: White Bird in a Blizzard (2014)

While the nonlinear, genre-bending plot leads to some choppy storytelling at times, the fearless conviction that drives Gregg Arakai's direction and Shailene Woodley's performance in the lead role are enough for White Bird in a Blizzard to conquer its narrative flaws.

Most Overrated: Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

The reliably gruff charisma Gerard Butler brings to Secret Service agent/one man untouchable killing machine Mike Banning is the only reason Olympus Has Fallen (and both of its sequels) rise above mediocrity. This film isn't really anything more than a pretty shameless knockoff of Die Hard that makes the avoidable yet not completely crippling mistake of taking itself super seriously while plowing through repetitive quick cut shootouts, silly plot twists and long moustache twirling-villain monologues.

Most Puzzlingly Unspectacular Star-Studded Heist Movie: The Score (2001)

I actually just saw this for the first time last month and my primary takeaway was how Robert De Niro, Edward Norton, Bassett and Marlon Brando-in his final role ever-ended up starring in something that is so basic from top to bottom. There's legimately not a single thing in this film from the planning of the heist to the back stories of the players involved to the eventual rapid chain of plot twists that take place during the heist itself that is anything above nondescriptly competent-which may be why none of the heavy-hitters in the cast come anywhere close to hitting their peak form as actors (particularly Brando-whose reported erratic behavior on set including refusing to take direction from anyone besides De Niro could explain his generally half-assed performance).  

2021 in Movies: Mid-Year Review

A combination of the 2020 Oscar slate extending into the first two months, a relentlessly active streaming presence powered by Netflix's "release at least 1 new movie every week" strategy and the theatrical release pipeline starting to really fire up again over the past six weeks has made the early 2021 cinematic slate a very dynamic, fascinating beast. So did this perfect storm of genre and release channel diversity generate positive results? Generally yes. 

While not quite matching the absurd quality level of 2019, 2021 has made a pretty strong impression out of the gate with a solid number of standout films and very little in the way of outright flops. There's been riotous comedies that have used their own twisted oddball voices to mine non-stop laughs (Bad Trip, Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar), some really impressive blockbusters (Godzilla vs. Kong, F9, A Quiet Place Part II) that have helped reinforce the value of the theatrical experience within the cinema ecosystem and a transcendent piece of filmmaking that brings the intensity and intrigue of a thriller to the dramatization of a tragic piece of American history that has been swept under the rug by the masses for far too long (Judas and the Black Messiah). As studios continue to unload the vaults of heavy-hitter titles they've amassed over the past year and the aforementioned supersized Netflix release calendar prepares to enter its prestige phase in roughly two months time, 2021 is in a position to end on an even stronger note than what it started on. Below, you'll find a ranking of every film I've seen from January through the opening weekend of July as well as a healthy number of mid-year awards that cover everything from acting to surprises/letdowns to visual effects. Hope you enjoy.      

Haven't Seen, but Intend to Watch:

Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell

Blast Beat

Censor

Chaos Walking

Don't Tell a Soul

False Positive

Fear Street Part 1: 1994

Finding Ohana

First Date

Flashback

Happily

In the Earth

Infinite

Initiation

Land

Monster

Profile

Psycho Goreman

Raya and the Last Dragon

Riders of Justice

Shiva Baby

Spiral: From the Book of Saw

Stowaway

Summer of Soul

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It

The Courier

The Dry

The Paper Tigers

The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run

The Tomorrow War

Till Death

Together Together

Voyagers

Werewolves Within

Wrath of Man

48.The Marksman (D+)

47.Awake (D+)

46.Good on Paper (C-)

45.Tom & Jerry (C)

44.Moxie (C)

43.The United States vs. Billie Holiday (C+)

42.Coming 2 America (C+)

41.Thunder Force (B-)

40.Locked Down (B-)

39.Breaking News in Yuba County (B-)

38.Our Friend (B-)

37.Fatherhood (B-)

36.The Ice Road (B-)

35.Shadow in the Cloud (B-)

34.The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (B-)

33.No Sudden Move (B-)

32.Outside the Wire (B-)

31.The Mauritanian (B-)

30.Without Remorse (B)

29.The Little Things (B)

28.Boss Level (B)

27.Boogie (B)

26.The White Tiger (B)

25.Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard (B)

24.Saint Maud (B)

23.The Woman in the Window (B)

22.Oxygen (B)

21.Cruella (B)

20.Mortal Kombat (B)

19.Zack Snyder's Justice League (B)

18.Some Kind of Heaven (B)

17.Luca (B)

16.Those Who Wish Me Dead (B+)

15.The Mitchells vs. the Machines (B+)

14.The Forever Purge (B+)

13.Zola (B+)

12.Plan B (B+)

11.F9 (B+)

10.I Care a Lot (B+)

9.Concrete Cowboy (B+)

8.Army of the Dead (B+)

7.Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (B+)

6.A Quiet Place Part II (B+)

5.Malcolm & Marie (A-)

4.Godzilla vs. Kong (A-)

3.Nobody (A-)

2.Bad Trip (A)

1.Judas and the Black Messiah (A)

Mid-Year Awards:

Biggest Surprise: Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar

Biggest Letdown: No Sudden Move

Most Underrated Movie: Concrete Cowboy

Most Overrated Movie: No Sudden Move

Top Performance: Daniel Kaluuya, Judas and the Black Messiah 

Worst Performance: Eddie Murphy, Coming 2 America

Top Ensemble: Judas and the Black Messiah 

Worst Ensemble: Moxie

Top Director: Shaka King, Judas and the Black Messiah 

Worst Director: Robert Lorenz, The Marksman 

Top Script: Will Berson and Shaka King, Judas and the Black Messiah 

Worst Script: Mark and Joseph Raso, Awake

Top Breakthrough Performance: Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holliday 

Top Directorial Debut: Ricky Staub, Concrete Cowboy

Top Cinematography: Marcell Rev, Malcolm & Marie

Top Score: Thomas Newman, The Little Things

Top Visual Effects: Godzilla vs. Kong

Top Action Sequence: "Metal Factory Fight", Nobody

Best Villain: Baroness von Hellmann (Emma Thompson), Cruella

Worst Villain: Mauricio (Juan Pablo Raba), The Marksman

Best Performance in a Bad Movie: Gina Rodriguez, Awake

Worst Performance in a Good Movie: Millie Bobby Brown, Godzilla vs. Kong

Best Overacting: Emma Stone, Cruella

Worst Overacting: Juan Pablo Raba, The Marksman

Movie I'm Most Excited to See in the Second Half of 2021: The Suicide Squad

2021 in Music: Mid Year Review

I'll be honest, this is the least enthused I've been about a musical year at the halfway mark since I started running this blog in the summer of 2010. Half baked, career low marks for veteran acts (Gojira, Foo Fighters, A Day to Remember) have emerged as a disturbingly prevalent trend while truly memorable releases that demand to be regularly revisited have been scarce (only 6 releases I've heard this year have earned a B+ or higher). 

On the plus side, this significant cluster of underwhelming/not overly special releases does set a very clearable bar for the July-December slate and with a slew of heavy-hitter artists including Between the Buried and Me, Lorde and Travis Scott set to release projects over the next 6 months, a swift shift in fortune could prove to be on the horizon. Below, you'll find album rankings, awards and assorted other pieces of 1st half of 2021 music-related silliness galore. Enjoy!

EP Rankings:

4.SeeYouSpaceCowboy.../If I Die First-A Sure Disaster (B)

3.21 Savage and Slaughter Gang-Spiral: From the Book of Saw Soundtrack (B)

2.Drake-Scary Hours 2 (B)

1.Gulch/Sunami-Split (B)

LP Rankings:

40.Trippie Redd and Travis Barker-NEON SHARK vs. Pegasus (D+)

39.black midi-Cavalcade (D+)

38.A Day to Remember-You're Welcome (C-)

37.Wolf Alice-Blue Weekend (C-)

36.SG Lewis-Times (C)

35.Dropkick Murphys-Turn Up That Dial (C)

34.Foo Fighters-Medicine at Midnight (C)

33.The Armed-Ultrapop (C)

32.Olivia Rodrigo-Sour (C)

31.God's Hate-God's Hate (C+)

30.24kGoldn-El Dorado (C+)

29.Gojria-Fortitude (B-)

28.Yautja-The Lurch (B-)

27.Weezer-OK Human (B-)

26.Depths of Hatred-Inheritance (B-)

25.Migos-Culture III (B-)

24.Japanese Breakfast-Jubilee (B-)

23.Abiotic-Ikigai (B-)

22.Pi'erre Bourne-The Life of Pi'erre 5 (B-)

21.Chevelle-Niratias (B-)

20.ERRA-ERRA (B)

19.Hail the Sun-New Age Filth (B)

18.Rob Zombie-The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy (B)

17.Royal Blood-Typhoons (B)

16.King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard-Butterfly 3000 (B)

15.BROCKHAMPTON-ROADRUNNER: NEW LIGHT, NEW MACHINE (B)

14.slowthai-tyron (B)

13.Anna Pest-Dark Arms Reach Skyward With Bone White Fingers (B)

12.Genesis Owusu-Smiling with No Teeth (B)

11.Cannibal Corpse-Violence Unimagined (B)

10.St. Vincent-Daddy's Home (B)

9.RXK Nephew-Slitherman Activated (B)

8.Doja Cat-Planet Her (B)

7.While She Sleeps-Sleeps Society (B)

6.Pupil Slicer-Mirrors (B+)

5.Steel Bearing Hand-Slay in Hell (B+)

4.King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard-L.W. (B+)

3.Tyler, the Creator-CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST (B+)

2.Lana Del Rey-Chemtrails over the Country Club (A-)

1.Brand of Sacrifice-Lifeblood (A)

Top 25 Songs (In Alphabetical Order by Artist):

21 Savage-Spiral 

Between the Buried and Me-Fix the Error

Brand of Sacrifice-Altered Eyes

Brand of Sacrifice-Animal

Brand of Sacrifice-Foe of the Inhuman (feat. Eric Vanlerberghe)

Brand of Sacrifice-Lifeblood

BROCKHAMPTON-Buzzcut (feat. Danny Brown)

Doja Cat-Kiss Me More (feat. SZA)

Doja Cat-Payday (feat. Young Thug)

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard-Ataraxia 

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard-O.N.E.

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard-Supreme Ascendency 

Lana Del Rey-Chemtrails over the Country Club

Land Del Rey-Dark but Just a Game

Lana Del Rey-Wild at Heart

Lil Nas X-Call Me by Your Name (Montero)

Pupil Slicer-Martyrs 

slowthai-Mazza (feat. A$AP Rocky)

St. Vincent-Down

St. Vincent-The Melting of the Sun

Trippie Redd-Miss the Rage (feat. Playboi Carti)

Tyler, the Creator-Hot Wind Blows (feat. Lil Wayne)

Tyler, the Creator-Lemonhead (feat. 42 Dugg)

Tyler, the Creator-Manifesto (feat. Domo Genesis)

While She Sleeps-Enlightenment (?)

Mid-Year Awards:

Top Song: Doja Cat-"Kiss Me More" (feat. SZA)

Top Discovery: Brand of Sacrifice 

Top Comeback: Tyler, the Creator

Top Debut: Pupil Slicer-Mirrors 

Biggest Surprise: Tyler, the Creator-CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST

Biggest Letdown: A Day to Remember-You're Welcome

Biggest Step Up from Past Album: Tyler, the Creator-CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST

Biggest Regression from Past Album: A Day to Remember-You're Welcome

Album Most Likely to Rise Upon Subsequent Listens: Genesis Owusu-Smiling with No Teeth

Album Most Likely to Fall Upon Subsequent Listens: ERRA-ERRA

Biggest Grower After Initial Listen: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard-L.W.

Biggest Slide After Initial Listen: Abiotic-Ikigai

2nd Half Release I'm Most Excited For: Between the Buried and Me-Colors II 

Potentially Not Real Album That Could Kill Me If It's Actually Released by the End of the Year: SZA's 2nd LP