a Team Update, by the Crow.
or, the Crow takes a look back at how The Corvid Review fared in 2018.
— Aʟʟ ᴏᴜʀ Pᴀsᴛ Rᴇᴠɪᴇᴡs —
As I type this, the Azure-Winged Magpie’s battling with her review of How to Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World. To fill the gap until she’s finished, here’s a quick summary of our “greatest hits” from last year.
2018 was a difficult year for us on The Corvid Review. The story has been told before, and this will be the last time I’ll mention it. However, the important thing to take away is that while 2018 looked to be quite an underwhelming year for us because of “the troubles”, we finished on a very strong note (a note that seems to be carrying on, as it happens). So strong was this note, that it led to our year’s figures becoming incredibly skewed.
Nonetheless, we would still like to list out what people liked the most about our work in 2018, as we intended to do last year. In the following few paragraphs, we’ll be taking a look at which of our posts entered finer ages, what posts we were most proud of, and how these things have informed our future ventures.
With that in mind, let’s go over our:
Annual Report, 2018: The Corvid Review
Best-Performing Reviews of 2018:
Our four (a number you’ll find I have a strange obsession with) best-performing posts over the course of 2018 — all of which were distinctly not written in, nor about productions from 2018 — were:
- The Blackcoat’s Daughter [2015]; published: 2017
For the second year in a row, our analysis of Oz Perkins’ The Blackcoat’s Daughter is our best performer. It was a combination of fortunate timing (the review was published on the same day the theatrical trailer was released) and considerable effort that first made this particular review so notable. Over the months following its publication, however, its status as the first (or at least one of the earliest) “explanations” of the movie has led it to become the most sought-out review on The Corvid Review.
It’s slowly beginning to lose its traction in recent days, as we grow further apart from its run in theatres, but its instant “star” status on The Corvid Review has not only earned it the moniker of being our “Heavyweight Champion” — according to the Azure-Winged Magpie — but also the review that really started our journey towards a wider audience.
- Possession [1981]; published: 2016
Close behind, and threatening to steal the Heavyweight crown, however, is our explanation of (the meaning to be found in) Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession. Again: The Corvid Review hosts one of the very few explanations for the movie that exist, and we are one of the top results (if not the top result) for people looking for answers to the movie. And it’s an explanation that I strongly contend is the only correct reading of the movie.
Possession is slated to be the first of our “Video Files” later this year, and — especially as one of our earliest reviews — has been a surprise challenger to the reign of The Blackcoat’s Daughter. Along with the yet-to-be-completed Oldboy analysis series, Possession and The Blackcoat’s Daughter make up our “Holy Trinity” of star reviews.
A long-intended update to the review is due to be completed in March of this year.
- Little Red Riding Hood [2015]; published: 2017
To my utter surprise, the Azure-Winged Magpie’s very “colourful” deconstruction of IDIC Entertainment’s Little Red Riding Hood takes third place. Spurred by a surprise “push” from Reddit, the review drew a significant number of eyes last year.
It isn’t one of our better reviews, and is a review that even the Azure-Winged Magpie is dissatisfied with; yet: it’s popular, push or not. In no small way did its success help secure her return to The Corvid Review, but it also became the first review to go into her “bucket“.
Soon, she will be embarking in an assault upon the senses (and the intellect) with a “Dissection” of IDIC Entertainment (the team behind Little Red Riding Hood), after looking back on her reviews of both this bizarre offering from the team, and the other movie they released in 2015: Playing With Dolls.
- The Room [2003]; published: 2017
What a story, Azure-Winged Magpie!
Sitting just beneath our ever-popular gallery of Opeth wallpapers, is the Azure-Winged Magpie’s review of Tommy Wiseau’s bizarre cult-classic: The Room. I personally have little to say about her… “colourful” look at the movie, and once tried to maul the movie myself, but in far less depth and with much lower “aspiration”. One day, I might attempt roasting another turkey; but for the moment, the Azure-Winged Magpie reigns supreme as our Turkey-conquering Queen on The Corvid Review, with far too many turkeys roasted for me to even dream of holding a candle to her literary oven.
(She is, however, most unfortunately unimpressive at the roasting of actual turkeys.)
Best Performing Reviews of Media from 2018:
Our most popular posts of 2018 were:
In a testament to how strong our efforts last year became following our long-winded and very-painful project to review the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole was a look at Quake Champions — my One Game of 2018 (and far as facts go, I have yet to touch it this year).
While the game’s existence pre-dates 2018, its long-standing status as a game in “open beta” qualifies it as a work that could be considered to be from 2018, however loosely.
Sitting at rank one and three of our posts published in 2018, both these reviews have together made the divisive, and often-controversial, Quake Champions the most popular topic on The Corvid Review for 2018. All I can say to that is: Impressive.
A flash in the pan? Perhaps.
Currently, our “first look” review of Bandersnatch sits at the top of our list for 2019 (not any longer, thanks to our reviews of Roma and surprise-hit Unbreakable), and took the top spot for December 2018 over our second look at Quake Champions — in less than three days. How long this trend will continue: I can’t say. I do not — however — expect the review to be significant in the long run, as The Corvid Review goes on to add other works of media to its library.
We were disappointed — on the whole — with Bandersnatch. The Azure-Winged Magpie’s gone on to play it a few more times, and her opinion hasn’t changed since our initial play-through. It’s worth the experience, but unfortunately ends up being just a little too overhyped.
We thought these posts would rank higher, to be honest. Clocking in at fourth and fifth place respectively, our first two previews leading up to Godzilla: King of the Monsters have done rather well, but not as well as we’d hoped, considering the effort that was put into them.
However, the response to both was quite positive, and we’re happy to see the hype surrounding Godzilla: King of the Monsters to be as high as it is. This really is a good time to be a G-fan.
Part 3 is out soon (after “Star Trek Month” kicks off).
The Azure-Winged Magpie makes her only solo appearance on this particular list with her review of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sitting in sixth place. She managed to watch the movie early, and its been mentioned in our conversations regarding the best movie of 2018 (more on that topic in a few days).
Again: a surprise inclusion due to the fact that the movie was released in December, but yet another example of just how strong December was for us.
The Corvid Review
on Social Media
It’s become evident that we aren’t the best birds for the job when it comes to Social Media. We are fierce recluses, and this has become plainly reflected in our complete lack of engagment with the world of Social Media at large (barring the Azure-Winged Magpie’s picking fights wherever she finds them).
To look at it in a different light, however, this reaffirms our confidence in the project, given its growth without the aid of continuous social media (our accounts on Reddit aside).
The Azure-Winged Magpie has been at the helm of our pages around the internet, and is soon to step down to make way for a new member of the team in this regard. Up until said transition happens, however, I’ll leave the links to our Social Media pages below, in case you would like to stay up to date with us. We would also like to invite you to join our mailing list (at the bottom of this page), or — if you are a WordPress user — to follow us.
Tᴡɪᴛᴛᴇʀ / Pɪɴᴛᴇʀᴇsᴛ
And finally…
A Big Thank You
to All of You
Last year was a really rough year for us, and I’m nothing but happy to be able to say that our flight continues. It seems strange to say it, but The Corvid Review was one of the factors that played a part in our reuniting, not just as co-writers, but as people.
And in light of that, I would like to extend a very warm, and very heartfelt message of thanks to all of our readers. Be you a first-time reader, a repeat-visitor, a follower, a drifter, a wanderer, or someone who has found us at the end of a journey on one of the many search engines which populate “the web” — we thank you. You’ve made a part of our lives feel worth it, and your continued interest in our work has played a part in our rekindling our friendship.
I know it sounds dramatic, and very over-the-top, but it’s the truth.
Seriously. Thank you.
Thanks to the continued interest, we’ve decided to follow through with the original “secret plan” behind The Corvid Review. We’re back on course for bigger and better things this year. And because you’ve cared to visit our little corner of the internet, we promise nothing but better and more interesting content for the months which lie ahead of us.
Again: thank you, and see you soon.
— Crow out.
T H E _ C O R V I D _ R E V I E W 
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