Each month, I will be going through all the pop culture / nerd related things that have happened and decide what was good, and what was utter shite, starting with…

BEST: Kofi Kingston Wins The WWE Championship At WrestleMania 35

For non-wrestling fans this will mean absolutely nothing, obviously, but this was a historic occasion and the stuff of dreams for those that follow sports entertainment. It’s a rare occasion for a mid-card underdog, despite how popular they are, to actually the the World title, let alone at the biggest event of the year. More importantly though, Kofi Kingston was the first African-American man to win the WWE Championship in it’s entire 56 year history which is utterly ridiculous and more than long overdue.

WORST: Hellboy

Let’s face it, we all knew this wasn’t going to be great judging from the trailer, but we didn’t know quite what a disaster it would turn out to be. In the week of its release, news had spread about director Neil Marshall regularly clashing with producers which resulted with them firing Marshall’s cinematographer of choice, supposedly sending a message to Marshall to show him who’s in charge. David Harbour also repeatedly walked off set and even Lovejoy himself, Ian McShane, had to help sort out the script as production went on.

This didn’t help the absolute trashing the film got from critics, and it currently sits at 15% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film obviously failed at the Box Office, and failed to earn back it’s $50 million budget (which doesn’t even count marketing costs). What a mess.

BEST: Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Trailer Released

In 2015, my excitement for Star Wars was at an all time high during the build up to The Force Awakens, and on top of that I thought the film was incredible. Sure, it had possibly way too many parallels to A New Hope, but even if it was a quasi remake, it was a damn good one. I went to see it 3 times and even ended up at a convention at Singapore Airport. I was 100% in.

Fast forward 4 years later and I, like many, had began to lose interest in Star Wars. Read that sentence again. This should not be happening to one of my favourite franchises of all time. The Last Jedi was mediocre at best, Solo didn’t interest me in the slightest (I still haven’t even watched it). I had become a terrible Star Wars fan, and the trailer, shown at this years Star Wars Celebration, really needed to pull off something special to pull me back in. And boy, did it. Without even revealing all that much about the story, it was simple and effective (plus a couple of huge reveals) and now I cannot wait for December. It’s 2015 all over again.

I think should probably stop writing and finally watch Solo.

BEST: Avengers: Endgame

How could they possibly live up to the hype after what happened in Avengers: Infinity War? By arguably delivering the best superhero movie ever made, that’s how. I had some reservations about the 3 hour running length beforehand, but I’ve seen it twice now and both times the film just flew by and I loved it just as much on second viewing. I can’t wait to see it again.

WORST: The Sonic Movie Trailer

I mean, just look at it for pete’s sake. Who on Earth signed off on that design? Those teeth, the body, the terrifying face in general. Poor James Marsden does not look like he wants to be there. Why is Gangsta’s Paradise the theme tune? What an absolute mess. Sure, they’ve said they’ll tweak the design of Sonic after an insane amount of fan outcry but that won’t fix everything else that is wrong with this dreadful trailer.

So that’s a quick round up in the world of nerdism in April 2019. May looks set to be another big month in pop culture, so check back just after to see what we thought.