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⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) I really loved this show. It's a bit of an oddball mashup going between Breaking Bad level intensity and some truly hilarious dark humor. And both were great! It was one of the funniest shows I've seen, and one of the best nail-biters. Barry wanting to be an actor while being so bad at it will never not be funny. I think it takes a pretty gifted actor to act like a bad actor. Anyways, really looking forward to season 2! Been really happy with a lot of these HBO shows I had put off watching.

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) Beautiful. Two hours of good, clean military propaganda. I've never watched the first one, so maybe I was missing out on a couple emotional payoffs, but who cares? I watched this movie because I wanted to see fast airplanes and to be shaken by the sound of jet engines rumbling through IMAX speakers. Mission accomplished! This is truly the epitome of formulaic action cinema, and within the first 20 minutes you know you're in for zero surprises. But again I ask, who cares? It all looks so good, the action is so intense, the maneuvers so impressive that you're willing to put aside all real criticisms. This movie is so fun and inoffensive that you're bound to have a good time and feel good about the fifteen dollars you slap down to watch this on the big screen.

⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Magdalene) I'm so sad that this show is over. This season still had lots of very funny episodes, with appearances from all of our favourite characters from previous seasons. The last couple of episodes felt a little rushed as they tied things up, but otherwise no complaints!

⭐ 10.0/10 (Originally written by Magdalene) I forgot to review this, and I'm only bothering to do so now so that the record shows that it is indeed the best show. I can't explain why, but I have thought about it every day since we finished, and just remembering it exists makes me happy.

⭐ 5.5/10 (Originally written by hoodie_logi) This was an ok read. Some elements were really good, others were confusing and felt rushed. Pretty typical hero's journey-fantasy story. Five college students are transported to a magical realm and find themselves in prominent positions among this world's people quickly against the coming threat of an ancient evil. The characters don't question much of anything that happens to them, and immediately start doing well in what they are thrust into. Not a lot of the story felt earned or how people would realistically act here. However, there are some extremely good emotional pieces, and many of the cultures are very cool. So there was good and bad in this book, I'll probably read more of the series. The guy who wrote is also from small town Saskatchewan so that's neat-o

⭐ 10.0/10 (Originally written by hoodie_logi) I think this is one of my proudest achievements in reading. This is an insane fantasy world, with 10 years of research and writing culminating in a 1250 page first book of a planned 10-book series. This is an absolutely fantastic intro to the series and I can't wait to read more. There's way too much plot wise to dive into here, but one thing that really stood out to me was the pacing and intricacy. In a book this long, there is a huge probabiltiy that it is going to hit a major lull in the middle. Though it slows a bit, most of the story takes place within one section of the very large world, everything is so meticulously thought out and well executed, that the pay off in the climax of the story is astounding. Everything the characters achieve or don't achieve felt so earned. There was nothing cheap about their journey's, because you've got to walk through the good and the bad multiple times with them as they arrived wh...

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) I read this book sometime last year, but wanted to do a seperate review now because my thoughts have really evolved as I've been on this Witcher journey. I didn't love it last time, and I blamed a lot of that on the audiobook experience. Now I've been reading through all the physical versions, and I can definitely confirm that going audio for the first read through is a terrible idea. This book has so much going on that it's almost impossible to catch the political machinations and world building while just listening. This story is also probably about 70% from a female perspective, much of that being Ciri, and that just always sounds weird coming from an adult man reader. But anyways, I loved the first two books. They were all short stories and they focused on Geralt. This book, the first of the Witcher saga proper, was definitely a bit of a step down for me. It focuses less on Geralt, whom I'm in love with, and more on other ...

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) Definitely still a great show with laughs every episode. I think it's lost something as the kids get older as the Lois vs Demon Children dynamic is no longer the centre of everything going on. Also, teenagers being bad just isn't as funny as kids. BUT the show has other things going for it with Hal and his regular midlife crises now taking centre stage, and Craig being a hilarious addition to any episode he is in. Going through the episode list, I think it was clear up me that there are not as many of the standout, 10/10 perfect episodes. Still, episodes like Boys at Ranch and Day Care are really great. Some scenes are so vivid from a decade back. "Amazing Grace, how sweet the taste, who found a wrench for me!" Classic

⭐ 0.5/10 (Originally written by Jess) Shittiest movie ever. Apparently I can't give it zero?

⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) Read this mostly on Joe’s rec and a little bit cause I could picture Henry Cavill as Geralt the whole time 😍 (I’ve seen very little of the show so it hasn’t been ruined). A series of short stories around Geralt and his adventures. We meet monsters and friends alike. I really enjoyed this book. Very engrossing, great dialogue and Geralt is such a good character. He’s witty and smart and strong yet there’s still a lot of intrigue around him and his abilities and his past. The author does a good job of intertwining different characters and hinting at a lot without revealing too much. Will definitely be reading more of this series! I already ship Geralt and Yennifer!

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) If you would’ve asked me to name a few Queen songs before watching this movie I truly don’t think I could’ve said one. Yet, I think I knew just about every song they sang in this movie. Just goes to show their enormous popularity, even 40-50 years later! And the lead singer dying before I was born! Like I said, I knew nothing about this band or Freddie Mercury but I really liked this movie. The band had such vision and chemistry, it was impossible not to like them. Freddie was quite the character, and I think they did a good job of showing his eccentrics, flamboyance, and flaws. I also think it’s even more impressive to be so popular before the internet and digital sales. When they wanted to release a 6 minute song to the radio and no one put it on because it was too long but it went on to become one of their greatest hits was super cool. Rami Malek was super great in this!

⭐ 7.5/10 (Originally written by Joseph) I can't quit the western. This one was released on Netflix last year and is a pretty straightforward western, with the added significance of having an all black cast and director. If you like violent westerns, you'll like this movie. It has all the goods: brooding cowboys, awesome costumes and set pieces, an uber bloody finale, and a somewhat compelling moral. They do a great job of setting up Idris Elba as a terrifying villain, and a fantastic job setting up tiers of gunfighters. I really just wanted to know who's got the fastest draw in the west! My only complaints are really that it is a very standard western, and yet the parts where they deviate were parts i wasn't into, such as the anachronistic soundtrack and a few instances of weird, modern-sounding dialogue. Also, the finale just seemed so unnecessarily violent to the point where all the good guys kinda turned into mass murderers?? Still, some awesome performances by a rea...

⭐ 8.5/10 (Originally written by Beans) While I was in the city of Cusco looking at the llamas this movie came to me as a revelation so I watched it on my next flight. Actually still so funny. I laughed way more than I thought I would. Yzma is too scary and David Spade has the perfect voice for an annoying entitled llama. Kronk is easily the MVP here and stole the show every scene he was in.

⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) This book is set within Chinese culture and lore in a world where a species is destroying the peoples land and the only way to defeat them is by a boy and a girl inhabiting these huge spirit metal animals with their consciousness. This book was really great and fast and exciting. The main female protagonist was unabashedly herself to a fault. Just didn’t give two shits, even to the end. Minor spoiler but there wasn’t really a redemption arc for her in the conventional way which was a super fascinating choice. This book challenges gender, patriarchy, relationships, and so much more in a great way. The main character being an Oriental girl really shows the struggle of the female living in that region. This was a fast paced, action packed read that I really enjoyed and constantly wanted to come back to.

⭐ 10.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) I read this start to finish on my hike to Machu Pichu so my score might be a bit skewed. However, Brueggemann is incredible and prolific and makes me love the Bible and love being a Christian. In this book he talks about how we need to see the OT and apply it to our contemporary reading. I have a hard time with the OT but I love the way he sees it and portrays the hope he finds there.  He talks about prophetic imagining in a way that provides hope to communities and imagine a world that is different from the empire’s; a world that bends towards justice and loves the poor and oppressed.  I think this is what excites me most about this book: this IMAGINING we are called to as Christians. We have this hope to see and imagine and build a better world and future and it’s all so exciting. The whole time I was wondering if hope should be a defining characteristic within the community of Christians. This book was incredible and super readable. H...

⭐ 7.5/10 (Originally written by Beans) I think this show was just ok but it gets +1 point for Oscar Isaac who is zaddy. The split personality was done in an interesting way and I liked Ethan hawke as the bad guy. But honestly don’t really have much to say. I think I might be sick of super heroes :( 

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) Again, with movies this old (1941), it's hard to evaluate and put a number on. This is a classic film based off a classic book, led by early film's most recognizable name (Humphrey Bogart). It's also one of the earliest Noir detective films, a genre I love, and I guess Humphrey's Sam Spade was hugely influential on how detectives were portrayed thereafter. He's slick, he's aloof, and even the most charming of women can't break him. I think this kind of character will always appeal to me because he is simply so sexy, especially when he puts on that 40s hat. So yeah, I did really like aspects of this movie. It definitely wasn't just Bogart, though he's a part of it, and I thought there were some great performances all around. The scenes were snappy and had a great sense of pace, and I liked how it stuck to basically 3 rooms, giving the setting a real sense of character. With all that said, I still found the movie...

⭐ 9.5/10 (Originally written by Joseph) Really, really love this series. This is the second Witcher book, and is another collection of short stories about Geralt. This one felt a bit more linear than The Last Wish and most of the stories seemed to set up the Witcher Saga proper with stories about Ciri and the war with Nilfgard. But each story is still mostly self-contained using one strong theme throughout and wrapping up by the end. I just really dig this formula. Each story feels really well thought out and crafted. They feel smart and written with care, and it's one of those series where you start and feel like you're in good hands with a good writer for as long as they'll write books. These books truly have inspired a love of reading that my life has been lacking for quite some time. Definitely some minor quibbles keeping it just short of a perfect score. I don't really dig the romance, mostly because I'm not into Yennefer. The question also still remains on whe...

⭐ 2.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) Any adult who likes this movie is crazy. This is a baby movie made for babies. I saw a lot of people seemingly having a lot of fun watching these and I wanted that for me. But this is a painfully unfunny movie for adults in the realm of Chipmunks or Yogi Bear or the other terrible movies I was paid to watch with Willy and Corny. Jim Carrey was undoubtedly still good because he doesn't need good lines to still be funny, but he wasn't even in it that much. He might have been in the last 30 minutes more but I guess I'll never know because there is no way I'm going back to finish this movie. If you don't have kids, don't watch this movie. If you do, watch a Pixar movie. 2 stars for the fifteen minutes of Jim Carrey bringing some joy to my life.

⭐ 5.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) I'm pretty confused as to why critics really like this one. Nobody likes big, muscular, blood-soaked men fighting more than me. But as Tim said, it's basically a normal revenge movie with some visual flare. I see very little difference between this and 300. I actually have loved a lot of revenge movies because I think revenge, forgiveness and inner struggle are really great and powerful concepts to explore. But I didn't think there was much for exploration here at all, and I felt the characters were all super flat and one dimensional. Maybe it was trying to be true to the history or true to some ancient tale (or even Shakespeare), but I dunno, tell a new story! The people who this was written for have been dead for a thousand years! Visually, I admit, this movie was a feast for the eyes. The final showdown was incredible to look at, but again I was expecting a little more exploration of what was going on in the main character's br...

⭐ 7.0/10 (Originally written by Tim) This show is basically The Office, except with teachers at a school in Philadelphia. It takes a while for the characters to warm up, it is the first season after all, but I think it shows some promise. I do wish shows would get away from the documentary format and try something new, so its hard to give me this show a high score due to lack of originality. We have everything you could expect here - a goofy janitor, a clueless principal, a seasoning veteran, and an earnest protagonist who is convinced she can change the life of every student she teaches. Its some feel good TV that I am usually lacking, and I appreciated the identity the show grabs immediately. My favourite character is the protagnist's deadbeat boyfriend, and while the deadbeat boyfriend is killing me on 30 Rock right now I realized maybe those are always my favourite character. His character also inspires the main through-line of the season, which I thought it could have had mo...

⭐ 7.5/10 (Originally written by Tim) I really liked The Lighthouse, and when I saw the trailer for Eggers' followup I thought it looked incredible. Psychedelic, bloody, realistic (in terms of setting/costume/environment), when one commercial called it this generations Gladiator I thought that would be spot on. Well, with great expectations comes disappointment. While I don't think this movie was bad by any means, it was much more traditional in a way I wasn't expecting. There is some weirdness, but I wanted full on weirdness. There are some amazingly choreographed fights that get your blood pumping, and I expected this to me more of a viking travelling over great distances through many trials to get his revenge. This is essentially a Lion King story, where the uncle kills the father and then he goes out seeking revenge, but its not very long before he is close enough to the uncle to get his revenge and then the movie changes. I can't put my finger on exactly what change...

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Tim) Loved to see all the buzz around this movie, and am glad there is a movie getting adults out to the theatres that isn't about super heroes. Except the takeaway here is that husbands are the real super heroes! Just kidding, I have no idea what to make of this movie. I am not big on the multiverse idea, but its interesting that this one comes along right as Marvel is working that into all their stories. I did like the focus on family, and this movie does the "love transcending all dimensions" idea way better than Interstellar. It is quirky and weird and funny, and if Christopher Nolan directed it there would have been 30 minutes of exposition to explain exactly how moving between realms works. But the mechanics don't matter at all, and I loved that about it. To use another Nolan'ism, in Tenet they say "don't try to understand it, just feel it". That movie promises you something that it never delivers on, and I ...

⭐ 8.5/10 (Originally written by Joseph) This was our romantic movie of choice for this year’s anniversary. What a good one! I saw Jim Carrey and was expecting some sort of zany comedy, but this was not really the case. This was actually a more lighthearted drama/sci-fi more than anything, quite a lot like Everything Everywhere. Much like that movie, there is a lot going on, and a lot to either like or dislike. I mostly liked it all, with my one complaint being that I think they made it a little needlessly confusing to start. But it all starts to (kinda) make sense by the end, and the storytelling devices they use set up these very moving and magical scenes that make you sad and mournful and yearning. It actually struck up some great conversation about our cherished memories, and my rule of thumb is that if a movie creates conversation during the credits, it is a good movie. Wonderful, painful romantic movie. A little confusing, a little weird, but overall a fantastic experienc...

⭐ 8.5/10 (Originally written by Joseph) This is a very tough one to evaluate. It moves at such a frantic pace, has so many things going on and borrows from so many genres that it is impossible to evaluate any one thing. You can love the action, hate the comedy, be interested in the sci-fi, and still have no idea what to think of the whole. I don’t really know what I think of the whole, but I think I really liked it. I kinda dig the idea of the multiverse, and this was a pretty cool take on the concept. As a whole, yeah, this basically makes no sense, but I think they knew it and embraced it. They weren’t as interested in hard theoretical rules, but just wanted a backdrop to tell a truly crazy story. I feel like I haven’t seen such a creative and wild movie… ever? The way it moves from scene to scene, genre to genre is incredible. I remember seeing stats on how many cuts movies had, and wouldn’t doubt if this one set the all time record. This move is definitely not going to be fo...

⭐ 7.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) Ah, Bloodborne, my old friend.  I’ve started and stopped this game many times, and still have never beaten it. I absolutely love the idea: a punishingly hard game set in a gothic horror world.  This is one of the coolest atmospheric games I’ve ever played.  The art direction, the voice acting and music make this one of the most haunting experiences I’ve ever had.  I tried starting this game a few times, but never actually made it past the first boss cuz I’m no good.  Finally I beat Elden Ring (same creators) and thought I’d give it another shot.  After playing Elden Ring, this game was pretty breezy once I picked it up again.  I beat that first boss on the first try, and never had to try more than 2-3 times for most other bosses.  However, this game was getting quite hard and frustrating, and then the TV broke and I had no way to play for about a month.  When I could play again, my skills were far too c...

⭐ 8.5/10 (Originally written by Joseph) The third of the series, and the last of the games I know off by heart.  This was probably the one game among the first three that gets the most right.  Everything is sped waaay up after Crystal, it’s colorful and vibrant, the characters are a little more charming.  It takes everything good from 1, discards all the bad stuff from 2, and then adds some nice “modern” touches. I love playing these games in order because you see the new, cool bold choices they were making and understand how these games were such a sensation for that first decade.  Not only with artistic choices, which were solid, but adding things to the battle mechanics like abilities and double battles.  This is the first game to introduce anything resembling a real story, and although it may not be Shakespeare (the bad guy’s motivation still makes no sense), it still has some nice moments that I loved as a kid.  You emerge from the Seafloor cavern to t...

⭐ 10.0/10 (Originally written by Jess) I had to come back and write a review for this show, but I see Becky beat me to it. THIS SHOW WAS SO GOOD. Great LGBTQ+ coming of age show. It's just so wholesome and sweet and I love it so much. Please watch it.

⭐ 10.0/10 (Originally written by Rebecca) Wowee. I had heard about this a bit but wasn't super interested, because although I love a queer love story with a happy ending, I don't care about teen dramas. But it did look super cute, so I decided to try it, and was instantly HOOKED. I wanted them to be happy SO BAD and did not think about a single other thing until I finished it. And I have not stopped thinking about it or rewatching scenes since. There's truly nothing special or unique about the plot, just your typical cute high school romance, but something about it is SO COMPELLING. And it helped that it was super wholesome, similar enough to my high school experience that I wasn't rolling my eyes, and just really sweet and surprisingly relatable. I cried several times, and was really impressed and moved by some of the acting. I haven't been this invested in a romance in a long time. There's just something about it. Nick Nelson I would die for you in a heartbeat...