2020: The Year in Reviews

 

The things that made 2020 long and difficult need no repetition, but even amid grim circumstances, there were a few bright spots. Here are the few “bests” of a down year.

 

Best New Book (Fiction)

Missionaries: Phil Klay’s ambitious, multifaceted debut novel explores a political powder keg in Colombia and the lives affected by it.

 

Honorable mention: If It Bleeds: Stephen King’s latest novella collection is a mostly winning blend of new and old.

 

Best New Book (Nonfiction)

Memorial Drive: Natasha Trethewey’s heartbreaking ode to her murdered mother makes for a captivating memoir.

 

Honorable mention: Dragon Hoops: Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel memoir takes on identity and ambition amid a high school basketball season.

 

Best New Movie

No selection. COVID resulted in multiple release dates being pushed back, and I haven’t seen enough 2020 films to make an honest selection.

 

Noteworthy mentions: The Trial of the Chicago Seven is a well-crafted prestige court drama/biopic that is right in Aaron Sorkin’s wheelhouse, but it’s also painfully predictable. Spike Lee shows more ambition with the Vietnam War reunion caper Da 5 Bloods, but it’s frustratingly uneven. Sound of Metal features a powerhouse lead performance and innovative sound design to mimic hearing loss, but it’s underdeveloped and slow.

 

Best New Restaurant

The Nomad: Tasty small plates with creative fusion flair come to Hillsborough.

 

Honorable mention: Tipsy’z Tacos. This taco-centric spinoff of a beloved High Point burger spot packs a varied menu.

 

Best New Series

Returning favorite The Mandalorian outclasses any new offerings, but for the sake of branching out, Upload gets a nod. An Amazon original from Parks and Recreation co-creator Greg Daniels, it offers virtual afterlife hijinks with a satirical bite. 

 

Best New Video Game

I have not finished playing through Ghost of Tsushima, which is a graphical marvel and thus far engrossing. Top honors among games completed go to Yakuza: Like a Dragon, a fun change-of-pace entry in a long-running action series.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon

 

Discarded after birth and raised in a brothel, Ichiban Kasuga is taken under the wing of feared-but-honorable Tokyo midlevel yakuza boss Masumi Arakawa. In early 2001, Kasuga takes the fall for a crime committed by a member of the family and spends the next eighteen years in prison. But instead of a hero’s welcome upon release, he is betrayed and abandoned. Left in Yokohama’s Isezaki Ijincho district, Kasuga is determined to find out what happened and why. He’s aided by several others who have similarly fallen on hard times: Adachi, a former police detective, Nanba, a disgraced nurse living among the homeless, and Saeko, a barmaid whose boss is murdered. Their investigation draws them into intrigue involving Ijincho’s ruling underworld triumvirate (a tenuous Korean-Chinese-local yakuza alliance), Kasuga’s former yakuza clan, moral crusader activists Bleach Japan, and the latter group’s founder, ambitious Tokyo governor Ryo Aoki.

 

Sega’s long-running Yakuza series gets a shot in the arm thanks to a radical change in direction. Unlike previous series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu (an intimidating yet principled yakuza with a legendary reputation), Kasuga is a quirky exuberant optimist who models himself off a Dragon Quest hero and is regarded by most (at first) as a nobody. Like a Dragon also swaps the game’s real-time fighting for a turn-based RPG approach. Though this decision understandably proved controversial among longtime fans, the new combat system adds depth and complexity to the gameplay, compelling players to choose between attacking or guarding, conserving MP (magic points) or unleashing a special ability. Characters can even gain different abilities and stat increases/decreases by changing jobs, which function as classes in classic RPG parlance.

 

Despite changes to the formula, Like a Dragon is still very much a Yakuza game, both in terms of the themes (father-son relationships, the plight of the homeless, the cost of ambition) it explores and the world it depicts. Like previous entries, you can wander around different Japanese cities, be accosted by random thugs, find collectible items, shop in stores to gain valuables, eat in restaurants to replenish health, and play a variety of minigames. One such minigame, business management, is a spiritual successor to Yakuza 0’s real estate game, right down to being able to employ a chicken.

 

Yakuza games have always blended the dramatic and the comedic, but the main storyline tended to embrace the former while the latter could be found mainly in the stranger-assisting substories. Like a Dragon embraces stronger expressions of both and eliminates the barrier between the two. Even within the main storyline, you can fight enemies who try to club you with giant hunks of meat, and you can summon a poison-generating crawfish to your aid. For all this silliness, the game’s heavily melodramatic ending can feel like emotional whiplash.

 

Whether delivering Seinfeldian party banter or screaming in anguish, Like a Dragon’s voice cast does stellar work. The original Yakuza featured big-name talent but dubbing so poor that it caused Sega to swear off English voice tracks in Yakuza games for more than a decade. Here, Kaiji Tang fits Kasuga’s personality perfectly, George Takei lends gravitas to Arakawa, and several veteran voice actors (Elizabeth Maxwell, Rino Romano, and Metal Gear’s David Hayter) complete the ensemble.

 

Jarring tonal shifts and occasionally tedious leveling up aside, Like a Dragon is a refreshing entry with something for newcomers and Yakuza fans alike.

Wonder Woman 1984

 

In 1984, Amazonian Diana of Themyscira (Gal Gadot) works as an anthropologist for the Smithsonian as Diana Prince while covertly fighting crime as Wonder Woman. She is idolized by her new coworker, Barbara Ann Minerva (Kristen Wiig), an awkward and insecure scientist. While examining a cache of stolen antiquities, the two come across a Dreamstone supposedly capable of granting any wish. For Diana, this means a chance to reunite with lost love Steve Trevor (Chris Pine), who sacrificed himself more than sixty years ago. For Barbara, it means newfound power and confidence. And for beleaguered businessman Max Lord (Pedro Pascal), it means gaining the success and prestige he only pretends that he has. Whatever the Dreamstone grants, however, comes at a great cost.

 

2017’s Wonder Woman remains the high water mark of the DC Extended Universe, and so writer-director Patty Jenkins would have had difficulty surpassing it even if the film’s buzz wasn’t killed by repeated delays. As it stands, Wonder Woman 1984 is cliché-ridden and overstuffed yet redeemed, in part, by its stylistic prowess.

 

If Stranger Things is an 80s homage, then Wonder Woman 1984 is an overly broad pastiche. It takes copious shots at the fashion, the unnamed president is a Ronald Reagan caricature, and a blond-coiffed, fancy-suited Max Lord is a more chipper and charismatic take on retro Donald Trump. Unfortunately, the shallowness of these references undercut the propriety of the setting. Late Cold War tensions and conspicuous consumption were both present at the time, but they are less explored than they are tossed haphazardly like kindling to fuel the film’s conflicts. Despite having nothing novel to say, the film lays on its platitudes – truth is good, greed is bad – rather thick, with the Dreamstone a particularly hackneyed symbol of the dangers of excess.

 

Cursed as they sometimes are with insipid dialogue, the performers otherwise acquit themselves well. Gadot’s take on Wonder Woman – a warrior with a moral center who inspires others – continues to do the character justice. Wiig, best known for her comedy work, defies casting skeptics and is equally credible as dorky (early film) and fearsome (latter film). The nobody-to-nemesis transformation is a minor superhero film tradition, and while Wiig doesn’t reach the rarefied air of Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman in Batman Returns, she soars above Jamie Foxx’s Electro in The Amazing Spiderman 2. Lord is a character with a complicated history, spending years as a morally ambiguous presence before jumping off the deep end. Adaptations usually treat him as a boilerplate corrupt corporate executive, a Lex Luther Lite, and while there are shadings of that here, he’s also given some sympathetic edges. Pascal’s performance is, admittedly, hammy, but after seeing him stoically occupy the Mandalorian armor for so long, it’s a nice change of pace for him to let loose.

 

As with the first Wonder Woman film, this installment benefits from well-choreographed action. From the opening’s pseudo-Olympics to a highway chase scene, Jenkins and co. handle key sequences with thrilling aplomb. Hans Zimmer came out of self-imposed superhero film retirement to provide the score though sadly, it is not one of his more memorable works.

 

Warner Brothers’ big-screen comic book fiefdom has acquired a style-over-substance reputation, and Wonder Woman 1984 does nothing to challenge it. Ask little of this film, and you can be entertained. Come expecting more, and you will be disappointed.

Sound of Metal

 

When metal drummer Ruben (Riz Ahmed) suffers sudden hearing loss, it threatens his livelihood and upends his life, placing the former heroin addict at risk for a relapse. His girlfriend and bandmate Lou (Olivia Cooke) convinces the reluctant Ruben to stop performing and stay at a rehab facility for the deaf run by Joe (Paul Raci), a deaf Vietnam vet and recovering alcoholic. Ruben bonds with others in the deaf community while saving up for cochlear implants to restore his hearing, which puts him at odds with Joe, who rejects the idea that deafness is a disability.

 

Writer Darius Marder’s directorial debut has the ring of truth to it thanks to inspired sound design and a strong lead performance. The film fluctuates between louder and quieter and between clearer and more garbled relative to Ruben’s hearing, simulating deafness for a hearing audience. This, coupled with the use of ASL (Raci, the son of deaf parents, is a certified sign language interpreter) and deaf actors in supporting roles, paints a realistic picture of living with deafness in contrast to the patronizing “inspirationally disadvantaged” clichés. It’s a depiction furthered by Ahmed’s transformative performance. Lanky, bleached blond, and tattoo-covered, he imbues Ruben with both trepidation and determination, the fear of losing everything as well as the will to prevent it from happening.

 

While Sound of Metal’s dialogue is a bit stagey at times (and Joe’s spiel is as preachy to the audience as it is to Ruben), the film’s biggest liability by far is its sluggish pace. Sadly, this does not come as a surprise given the creators involved. Marder is again collaborating with Derek Cianfrance, for whom he wrote The Place Beyond the Pines, which managed to make a heist film boring. Yes, this is a character study, and yes “savor the quiet moments” is very much the film’s point, but the lack of momentum, coupled with underdeveloped secondary characters (Cooke does good work in limited screentime, but Lou's family drama feels tacked-on), are very nearly the film’s undoing.

 

All told, Sound of Metal is neither an easy nor a particularly enjoyable film to watch, but its intentions as well as Ahmed’s top-notch work make it worthwhile.

Missionaries

 

It’s 2016, and Colombia is about to hold a referendum on accepting a peace treaty that would end a longstanding conflict between the government and leftist FARC guerillas. Tensions run high as various groups –former guerillas, former rightwing paramilitaries, narco traffickers, poor coca growers, the military and its American advisors – jockey for power, sometimes forging surprising alliances along the way. Among those caught up in the intrigue are Abel, a repentant former paramilitary soldier turned shopkeeper, Juan Pablo, a calculating and increasingly frustrated Colombian army officer, Mason, a American combat medic turned Special Forces liaison, and Lisette, an American journalist seeking a new war to cover. A crime of opportunity links all of their fates.

When Phil Klay, a former Marine who served in Iraq, released his short story collection Redeployment in 2014, his frank depictions of military life earned him Tim O’Brien comparisons. That same unflinching lack of sentimentality can be found in his debut novel, but Missionaries is otherwise a very different beast, echoing Graham Greene’s Catholic-infused spy lit.

The novel’s structure is an odd hodgepodge of the personal and political. The first half fleshes out the backstories of the four leads in alternating chapters, and here Klay fleshes out memorable and believably compromised characters. A victim of violence for much of his youth, Abel is pitiable despite his hand in committing horrible crimes, and that sympathy is amplified when his former commander-turned-drug kingpin, Jefferson (a nightmarish embodiment of casual violence), won’t let him live in peace. Juan Pablo, a ruthless authoritarian pragmatist, sends his daughter to an esteemed liberal university, and the two seem to have genuine mutual respect despite the gulf between them. In search of a good war and a good story, respectively, Mason and Lissette are naïve and opportunistic, yet these qualities are tempered by their conscience and professional dedication, respectively. The book’s latter chapters ditch these character excavations for a point of view that floats more freely as the action picks up, hopping from the four leads to Louisa (a massacre survivor turned aid worker) to Jefferson to several others. It reflects the thorny interconnectedness of Colombia’s political reality, but it’s also a bit disorienting. Anyone without some cursory knowledge of the decades-long Colombian conflict will be at a loss here.

Toward the end of Missionaries, characters immersed in another conflict – this one in the Middle East – watch as advanced technology completely redefines what would have otherwise been a simple tribal war. Klay does not hesitate to confront America’s complicity in that, but he is no polemicist, preferring to probe moral dilemmas rather than wag a finger, and that spirit of inquiry keeps this otherwise dense book afloat.

Watch Dogs: Legion

 

In the near future, London runs on cryptocurrency, augmented reality, and automation, made possible by a powerful cTOS (Central Operating System). Private military contractor Albion has assumed police duties and seeks to impose an increasingly restrictive surveillance state while criminal syndicate Clan Kelley has turned to the Dark Web to facilitate its nefarious schemes. Both are opposed by the London branch of DedSec, a global hacker collective dedicated to stopping abuses of technological power. But when a mysterious group called Zero Day frames DedSec for a terrorist bombing, the hacktivists are left to regroup and clear their name.

 

The third entry in Ubisoft’s surveillance-themed open-world action-adventure series, Watch Dogs: Legion is both an evolution of and significant departure from the two preceding games. DedSec is back as is the ability to hack everything from security cameras to traffic cameras to enemy coms. While the action moves to London after previous entries took place in Chicago and San Francisco, the biggest change is to the main player character: there isn’t one. The Legion of the title refers to the fact that nearly the entire in-game populace of London can potentially be recruited as DedSec operatives. Characters are randomly generated during each new single player campaign and assigned different appearances, backgrounds, strengths, weaknesses, and skills. Some are former soldiers and spies and come equipped with superior firepower; others are drone operators who have more sophisticated hacking tricks. Doing favors for potential recruits and raising a neighborhood’s resistance by sabotaging Albion will net rewards while story missions pit you against Albion, Clan Kelley, and British intelligence as you get closer to unmasking Zero Day. Along the way, you are aided by Bagley (a wonderfully snarky A.I.), mission control Sabine, sympathetic police officer Kailtin, and others.

 

The lack of a central protagonist here is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, the ability to swap between team members with different skills supports a variety of playing styles (i.e. stealth vs. assault), and you may end up with some memorably amusing operatives. You may, for instance, get a chance to sick a swarm of bees on an Albion grunt or have a grandmotherly retired police officer unload a pistol clip on a Clan Kelley thug. On the other hand, despite the relevance of the game’s themes (living under an increasingly authoritarian regime in a world where technology has eroded privacy), the brief amount of information you’re given about each character keeps you at arm’s length.

 

There’s a similar trade-off in game mechanics. Drones play a bigger role this go-around. You can hack enemy combat drones to automatically target foes, and you can ride cargo drones around the city like personal air taxis. However, a few features from previous games (such as the “detonate a grenade” hack) are missed. Also, for all of the game’s possibilities, some of the operative recruitment missions (rescuing a recruit’s friend, retrieving a vehicle containing supplies, or breaking into a secure facility to hack or wipe data) can feel repetitive.

 

Watch Dogs: Legion falls short of reaching its fullest potential, but it’s still a timely outing that offers a new take on the open-world adventure experience.

Mandalay Asian Fusion Cuisine

 

Located at 3793 Samet Drive in High Point, Mandalay offers Chinese-influenced Asian fusion cuisine for lunch (every day except Sunday) and dinner (daily). Online ordering and catering are available.

George Takei brought me here…sort of. I was playing Yakuza: Like a Dragon, and a character voiced by the Star Trek alum described the joys of eating Peking Duck. This inspired a craving for a dish I hadn’t eaten in years, and Mandalay is one of the few area restaurants to offer it.

I had previously tried the restaurant under its former names Tasty 100 and Full Kee, and each time, I had decidedly mixed feelings On the one hand, it’s a well-appointed space and the food is, generally, several cuts above takeout-grade Chinese (credit chef/owner George Yu’s many years of experience). On the other hand, some offerings were (and still are) decidedly overpriced.

Peking Duck is listed as a signature dish and crispy Hunan fish is a specialty as well. We opted to try them both along with crab rangoons and pork buns. This was not a cheap endeavor, but it’s a lot easier to justify north of $20 for duck than it is $12 for basic fried rice or lo mein.

I ordered online for pickup, and everything was ready upon my arrival. The food was hot, plentiful, and mostly satisfying. There was plenty of meat in the Peking Duck, and it was nicely crisped without being dried out. It paired well with the accompanying plum sauce, but the generic tortillas were a bit of a letdown. The fish came with a brown sauce that delivered a welcome bit of spice, and the pork buns (pulled pork + hoisin) were excellent. On the other hand, the crab rangoons were more like overly chewy ravioli.

The rule of thumb for Mandalay, as with its previous incarnations, is to choose your dishes wisely (hint: avoid the dumplings) and be prepared to pay. The things that this place does right make it worthwhile, but it may take some trial-and-error to find what those things are.

 

NOTE: If they decide to do cold sesame noodles and pull them off well, all will be forgiven.

Rockin' Moroccan

The Triad's first Moroccan food truck is a marvel to behold for reasons that go well beyond the novelty of the cuisine. Food trucks typically run with a limited menu offering a few easy-to-prep items. Not this one. Rockin' Moroccan rolls with a full menu that would put some restaurants to shame. Salads, sandwiches (including a decked-out burger), platters, sides, and desserts are for the taking, and there are options for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.

Ordering is a breeze thanks to friendly owners and an efficient system. Mike is usually set up outside the truck with menus, buzzers (for when your order is up), and sauces at the ready. He seems genuinely glad to see all of his customers. Amina, his wife, turns around tickets with speed verging on culinary wizardry.

Of course, this would be for naught if the food wasn't up to par, but it is. We've tried the truck twice, and, unable to decide from among the assorted offerings, opted for combo platters both times. The Everything Platter (Saffron Chicken, Gyro, Kefta, Falafel, Rice, Pita Bread, Pico, and Slaw) is a generous amount of food, and while you can get better gyro meat elsewhere, everything here is fairly flavorful. The Saffron Chicken especially is a standout. The Veggie Platter swaps the meats for Moroccan spring rolls and grape leaves for a fresher, but no less filling take. At $13 and $11 respectively, both platters are good values for the portions.

With so many good Mediterranean and food truck options in the area, it would be easy for Rockin' Morrocan to be swallowed up by the competition. However, the combination of customer service, variety, value, and taste make Rockin' Morrocan a must. Consider this truck a must-try if you catch it out and about.

First Watch

 

Located at 4520 West Wendover Avenue in Greensboro, First Watch offers breakfast, brunch, and lunch from 7-2:30 daily. Cocktails are available, and specials rotate seasonally. There is an online waitlist check-in for dine-in patrons and online ordering for take-out.

 

When this chain opened in the ever-expanding Wendover Commons plaza at the beginning of the year, it managed to carve out a unique identity – fast casual breakfast/brunch – despite the abundance of eateries in the immediate vicinity. This lack of direct competition is both a blessing and a curse: First Watch is welcome for what it brings to the table and yet another restaurant of this type nearby would likely present a more attractive alternative.

 

While First Watch does offer sandwiches and salads for the lunch crowd, its menu skews toward early-day offerings. You can find a classic platter, gigantic pancake, omelet, or hash, or you can mix it up with a frittata, a fruit-laden Floridian French toast, or a quinoa power bowl. There are also health-conscious options and a juice bar yet strangely no breakfast burrito.

 

For my first time out, I used the restaurant’s Web site to order a Power Breakfast Quinoa Bowl (quinoa, Italian sausage, Crimini mushrooms, tomatoes, kale, Parmesan, and eggs) and a Kale Tonic (Kale, fuji apple, cucumber, and lemon) for pick-up. The food was ready within a few minutes of arrival, set on a table marked for take-out orders by the front entrance. By the looks of things, First Watch seemed to be going for a rustic chic vibe. It also seemed like the kind of place that crowds easily, which made me thankful that I wasn’t dining in.

 

The food proved to be a mixed bag. The sausage was nice and zesty, and it paired well with the tomatoes and mushrooms. The “basted” eggs, on the other hand, were rubbery and unpleasant, making this dish an unlikely re-order. At least the juice, equal parts tangy and refreshing, was an unqualified hit.

 

At $15 after taxes, this was not a cheap breakfast. It was certainly filling, but given the pricing relative to Scrambled or a good local brunch spot (think M’Couls), it still felt like a bit of a reach.

 

All told, First Watch’s better-than-fast-food breakfast offerings merit a look, but you may find yourself wanting more for less.