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The Nightmare Before Christmas

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⭐7.5/10 There is about a 2 week window to watch this movie in early November so make sure you make this your top priority. I had never seen this one and had no idea what it was about, and I think the premise is pretty funny. All the mascots of the holidays live in their own little world, but after another successful Halloween, Jack Skelington, the best scarer in town, gets restless and wanders into Christmastown and is overtaken by Christmas spirit! But of course since his nature is evil and spooky, he embraces this in bad ways.  So I will say that I was totally charmed and intrigued by this movie. It is super unique with a brilliant stop-motion style, all set to completely black backdrops similar to old antimated Batman, and also like Batman it features an awesome, classic Danny Elfman score. In fact, this movie is a musical! Did you know that? And while the songs are mostly funny and cleverly written, they are also the moments I found myself wanting to look at my phon...
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About Time

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⭐8.5/10 This is a pretty strange hodgepodge of a movie all centered around the fact that Domhnall Gleeson can go back in time to redo things in his life. The sci-fi element of this movie is super understated and unimportant, and in fact makes absolutely zero sense. It's not the point of the movie, so not a huge deal, but this movie makes literally no sense and it's hard to turn your brain off to the degree that this movie requires.  Anyways, Gleeson mostly uses this power to manipulate women into liking him and this is very needed because his taste in women includes Morgot Robie and Rachel McAdams. Made a bad first impression? Well keep replaying it until you get it just right! You'd think this theme would be played out as a lesson to not be a creep, or to not take advantage of this, but no, it's all played out as jokes and everything works out for him. He replays having sex with McAdams 3 times and yeah, no issues with this at all. I didn't realize how ...
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East of Eden (2026)

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⭐8/10 I actually didn't know this was coming out when I decided to start the book, so what a happy little coincidence. I wasn't super optimistic about a Netflix rendering of a book I already didn't love, but at the same time I wasn't super precious about changes they might make.  I'd say this is a pretty faithful adaptation of the book. They made a little effort to make Pugh's character a little more sympathetic, but not in a way that I thought ruined the point of the book like I was afraid of. In fact, her character was one I was a little confused by in the book, and I would say this rounded her out a little, so maybe even a net positive. Pugh was pretty great in this role, one she was born for.  In fact, most of the performances impressed me quite a bit. To start, I thought they were pretty poor and stiff, but especially the kids were pretty impressive in the final episodes. The actor for Cal is verging on Superstardom with Hunger Games in a few we...
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Wildwood

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⭐8/10 This is a classic case of a movie that I wish I loved more. There's lots of stories coming out about it, about the tireless and detailed work put into the stop motion, the uncompromising artistic vision, the years of work put into a movie with no clear audience. This is a movie that I have a ton of respect for, and really wanted it to be a masterpiece, and while I liked it quite a lot I can't really get there.  This is a movie about a girl in Portland who's brother is stolen by a flock of crows (murder?) who take him into the forbidden forest, and she goes to save him only to discover that the forest is enchanted. This movie is compared a lot to Lord of the Rings, but I actually think it's closer to Narnia, where she needs to infiltrate the fairyland politics and save the world.  Visually, this movie is stunning. Was it worth the extra decade of work? Well, I'm not sure, but I'm glad they did it anyways. It takes place in the fall, and the colo...
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Tangled

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⭐ 8/10 I'll start this off with a lukewarm take - this is better than Frozen. Probably the highest I could rate a Disney princess movie, I thought this was fun and great to look at. Cute animal sidekicks don't move me, but I'll tell you what did, that lantern scene! Seeing Ezra, who always asks for that song, hear the notes kick in and physically lean forward to watch, wonder in his eyes, it made me instantly cry and will be one of those movie moments I will never forget. Frozen didn't do that! Truly one of the most beautiful things Disney has put on film, amazing setup with a lovely duet, classic Disney. The love dynamic here is fine, but another emotional thing is this is about a daughter getting back to her parents, so of course small moments made me choke up. I felt manipulated but that's fine, that's what movies are supposed to do. As I mentioned we have listened to a bunch of these songs, but never Mother Knows Best! Hey Disney, smarten up and add that to...
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Girls (Season 1)

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⭐ 8/10 I needed another workout show, and a 30 minutes HBO comedy is perfect. This show is quite funny, but I was more blown away with how sharply written it is. Truly impressive for Lena Dunham, who was like 25 at the time, and it's clear there is a lot of personal experience in this. It's like Sex in the City, not that I have seen it, but 4 female friends in New York (one of the characters has a poster of that show on her wall), more of a coming-of-age story than I imagine that is. It was super clear to me how inspired Fleabag and I Love LA are inspired by this, feels like a groundbreaking initial season. This show is very fixated on sex, which I don't love, but its not attempting to be sexy at all. Every encounter feels fraught, or downright gross. This isn't always just for humour, and its another thing that felt kind of revolutionary. There is basically a moment every episode where a conversation is happening while someone else is on the toilet, it feels very unas...
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The Sixth Sense

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⭐8.5/10 I got to watch this one with a group of friends on Halloween night, and despite scaring that absolute dickens out of me as a kid, this really isn't a scary movie at all. There's like 3 freaky scenes, and I saw them coming all these years later, so I was kinda happy about that, a movie that's a pretty easy crowd pleaser.  So not a Halloween movie, but it's a terrific fall movie, very autumnal and dreary, and still perfect for the season. It's about sad Bruce Willis working with sad Haley Joel Osment, and sad for good reason! He sees dead people! A few people with me hadn't seen the movie and didn't know the twists, both that one and also the big one which has since become maybe a top five movie twist of all time? It's fun watching the movie, seeing those reactions from the crowd (and making the connection of where that famous line comes from), but also going in with the knowledge and looking at the clues all along. I t totally works on...
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The Great British Bake Off (Series Six)

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⭐8/10 I hate to bury good, thoughtful reviews with another season of Bake Off, but that's politics for you. This was one of Jess's favorite seasons and she wanted to share it with me.  I've got news for you Jess! Old seasons aren't as good! The recording footage looks worse, the hosts aren't as funny (very subjective), and Paul Hollywood hasn't nailed his Hollywood persona/ look yet. Also he's sometimes kinda legit mean! There's at least more diversity of flavour here with lots of brown people bringing unique and cultural ideas.  Still, it's the ultimate comfort show for a reason and something I always want to turn on. Another wonderful cast of characters, one where I'm sad every time to see someone go. 
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No Other Land

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I saw the trailer for Naza and was moved by it, so I figured I should check this one off the list. This isn't something I can score, and after You Can See Everything this feels like pure documentary in a sea of more curated and tailored films trying to document real life. I basically knew nothing about this, so instead of trying to summarize the movie or laud its craft I will just talk about how it made me feel. To be frank, I worked for a company that took out this full page ad in the New York Times. This was after October 7 2023, so there is a lot of context missing in a screenshot of this ad, but that's kind of the genius of this doc. It doesn't really explain why anything is happening. Everyone keeps saying this conflict is complicated and historic and nuanced and I'm sure that's true. But when you see bulldozers on the horizon like Star Destroyers coming to do their daily demolition of whatever building they want, there is no nuance. They are the bad guys. I f...
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Dark Souls: Remastered

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⭐ 9/10 I had a boss in 2014 who tried to convince me to play Dark Souls games, and I watched a small clip and quickly determined it wasn't for me. It looked drab and boring and just not fun. Fast forward to playing Elden Ring, one of the best games of all time, and I kind of just thought it was the only one worth playing. All the genius of the series distilled into one more accessible game that looks great. Well, post Silksong I have been craving more Souls-like games (I wonder where that name came from), and saw this was available for the Switch. I loved it, and I am sad I didn't start playing a decade ago when I could have really sunk some time into this world. Honestly this game might have recreated Zelda magic for me in a way I haven't experienced outside that series. Going through a really difficult dungeon, then opening up a door that you realize is a shortcut to where you started from so you never need to traverse that area again, just one of the most satisfying thi...
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Favourite Books of September and October

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I think I skipped a few months there, oops! But I've got some new recent favourite books to talk about!      This book blew my socks off. As soon as I started it I was locked in, and despite it being a long book, I read it really quickly.      The two main characters are Tamma and Dan, who have been best friends their whole lives growing up in the Mojave Desert. They're both obsessed with rock climbing, but they're poor and don't actually have the proper gear, so they just take risks and climb whatever they can. They have feuding mothers and messy home lives. Dan is facing pressure from his parents to leave Tamma and climbing behind and go to university instead, while nobody believes in Tamma at all even though she spends most of her time caring for her family.      Unsurprisingly, a lot of this book revolves around the idea of the crux of a climb, where you can stay safely where you are, or go for a big move that might make you fall, but if ...
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You Can See Everything

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⭐10/10 The movie sensation of the year! This is a 3 hour documentary about a woman that I didn't know existed a month ago, who ran a company that I have no interest in, and is made by a creator that I have an up-and-down relationship with. Still, the movie was receiving unprecedented levels of praise and publicity going in, so I certainly went in expecting to be blown away, and even while watching I wondered if it was meeting my expectations. But by the time it ended I knew it had, and then every discussion following it (and it's a movie that leads to a lot of discussion) basically cemented it as my movie of the year.  I think it's essential to go in blind, and it's almost impossible to talk about this movie without spoiling it (warning below), but whatever you think this movie is about, it's probably not quite that. Holmes is known to be a liar and manipulator, and before she goes to prison for a long time for fraud, Nathan Fielder is asked to come in a...
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Widow's Bay (Season 1)

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⭐8/10 This was the TV sensation of the year, and it just so happens to be a perfect spooky pick. It's about the residents of a little Eastern American island who are convinced that the island is cursed, but the mayor wants to change the narrative because he thinks it could be a successful tourist destination.  Well, that's what the start of the show is, because one thing I'm not sure I really liked is that the show shifts narratives quite quickly. In fact, it's almost like 10 seperate mini movies, each one utilizing a different horror trope, only somewhat related to the others. I like that in theory, but I feel like they moved on from interesting ideas too quickly and the show shifted tonally faster than felt natural.  I'll quickly add that I also didn't love some of the acting and writing, and for a horror comedy, I didn't actually think this show was very funny. I remember it being marketed as Parks and Rec but with horror, but they only try a ...
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Practical Magic

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⭐6/10 This was Jess's choice for a fall classic, and sure, why not! In this one a family of witches are cursed where if they find true love, then their true love dies. But also a movie about family and bonds and stuff like that, a dark side plot... A little of everything.  I mean, it's perfectly good. It's not really for me but I appreciated what it was. It's definitely a bit darker than one would expect, and I found it confusing thinking who the intended audience was supposed to be, but it was a delightful evening of movie watching.  Sandra Bullock is pretty great, and Nicole Kidman sure is saucy. I just wish some of these movies would have the courage to have a better ending! I've watched a few of these 90s by-women-for-women movies and while I kinda liked them, I found the cheesy endings left a sour taste. This is a movie for grown ups! It's okay to have a grown up ending! Honestly sometimes that's the difference between Practical Magic and Th...
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A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

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⭐8/10 I love a certified Halloween classic, and it doesn't really get much more classic than this. Part of why I love these older 80s campy movies is because they aren't all that scary. Well, this one is almost the exception.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but there is some genuinely gnarly stuff in this movie. In this, an old, dead serial killer haunts the dreams of some teenagers and can kill them in their sleep. I think the powerlessness is really the dread of it - if you fall asleep, you may not wake up again! So it's up to the teens to figure out how to deal with old Freddie Krueger because of course the police don't believe them! It's campy with lots of silliness and sex and blood, but also some pretty gross stuff besides. Krueger really is a classic villain. He has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, and if I watched this as a kid I probably wouldn't have slept for a month.  It's hard to recommend something like this because it really ...
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Barbarian

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Watched this to round out my Cregger horror filmography. This one has a lot of similar qualities to Weapons and RE, a blend of horror and humour, lots of quick, snappy editing, and is a more a fun, campy movie rather than a grim or psychological one. In this one, a young woman rents an airbnb but someone is oddly already staying there. The longer they stay, the more strange this house turns out to be until they discover more and more of its secrets. The other major plot point is Justin Long, who plays a complete scumbag, owns the place and heads over when he wants to sell it. There is a scumbag in each of Cregger's movies and they are always my favorite, always played for guilty laughs.  Yeah, this one is terrifying! Again I think it strikes that perfect balance of being light and funny enough, but really pushing boundaries with the horror too. It will make you feel sick to your stomach at times, and the payoff is plenty disturbing. As I do with most horror movies, I fe...
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Beowulf - Translated by Seamus Heaney

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⭐9/10 Beowulf has been on my radar for years. I mean, what a cool name right? But my bigger thing was that if it's good enough for Tolkien then it's good enough for me. This is an Old English poem written by a now unknown source, the oldest known "English" piece of writing we have. For centuries it's been studied by scholars, but then in the 30s Tolkien began to shift the thinking that this shouldn't just be ancient literature to be studied, but rather should be art to be celebrated and enjoyed.  I picked up the Tolkien translation years ago but admitted defeat pretty quickly. A nearly 100 year old translation of a 1000 year old story was not doing much for me, and so I put it aside, and so something that should have not been forgotten was lost and passed out of all knowledge until when chance came, I found this much more modern translation at the bottom of a river (a shelf at Value Village). I had lower expectations this time around, but I gotta s...
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The History of Concrete

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⭐ 9/10 This is basically a feature-length How To with John Wilson episode, and I couldn't have been happier about it. Its structured the exact same way as every episode, where he documents obscure things he sees in New York, and follows every aimless interaction as far as it will go (often incredibly far). Most of this is focused on concrete, how and where its used around New York, where it fails, with a ton of detours along the way. Thematically its right in line with the show. Everything feels like it boils down to impermanence, how we build these structures out of this boring material and patch it eternally even though its bad for the environment and doesn't look all that nice. He goes to concrete conventions, speaks with a couple contractors, looks at concrete in Rome, visits a brick-layer competition that is the epitome of Americana, works with a guy that blasts gum off sidewalks, and that's barely scratching the surface! In How To the weirdness and mundanity of moder...
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Sense and Sensibility (1995)

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⭐ 9/10 I didn't even realize when we booted this one up that a new version was coming out just a few days later! Well, who needs it. This is essentially a perfect movie, with great writing, fantastic performances across the board, and some legitamite moments of humour. My only exposure to Austen has been Pride & Prejudice, and I think I like this story a lot more. I mean, its kind of the exact same thing, but what this movie lacks in visual splendour it makes up for in a tighter script and runtime. I love the way Hugh Grant is in this movie for just a couple moments, but his aura lingers in every single scene. I love the way Kate Winslet pants for breath and says "he picked me up and carried me as if I were no more than a feather" after her romantic first encounter with Willoughby. Honestly that first encounter is one of the best romance scenes I have ever seen, and I think it's all Kate. Eat your heart out Mr. Darcy, that's how you come striding across the m...
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Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man

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⭐ 5/10 This is a Netflix dumpster fire if I have ever seen one. Big budget, a couple stars (including a now Oscar winner back in the title role), but a nothing script with empty meaningless dialogue. This movie is for people that get turned on seeing Tommy Shelby put his hat on and walk in slow motion. Much like the final season it only cares about the glorification of its star instead of, I don't know, telling an interesting story. Barry Keoghan is here as his son, which is kind of cool casting, but whatever, he's an angry pitbull son causing lots of issues, and Tommy needs to come out of retirement to set him straight. That's basically all there is to this? Arthur is now dead, a fact that infuriated me since the show didn't have the guts to kill him, and not only that, he dies off screen! The actor isn't even here for a flashback. A true tragedy, the ultimate act of cowardice. Tommy's involvement in his death is used for a dramatic moment, but its so stupid a...
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