WeView

⭐ 7.5/10 (Originally written by Tim) This was a fun sequel to Knives Out, but I don't think I enjoyed it as much as the first. The characters all felt a bit too convenient, and while I was entertained it was a bit more forced than the first one. But I shouldn't be starting with negatives! This was a very enjoyable watch right Netflix and I would recommend it to anyone. There is humour and beautiful production value (anything filmed on a Greek island is worth a watch). I feel like the movie was slightly prescient, with a Elon-esque character surrounded by other rich hateable people that you could easily compare to someone in real life. I am a bit tired of the "eat the rich" sentiment in a bunch of movies and TV lately, but this one was light on its feet. It takes a turn about half way through, a turn I can't say I loved, and the mystery solving is approached from an unconventional angle. I think it uses a bunch of mystery tropes, which is fine, just didn'...

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Magdalene) A delightful movie filled with incredibly talented kids.

⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) I think this movie was awesome and definitely worth the watch. It’s getting a lot of hype and for good reason. I don’t think I was in the right mood to watch nor should it be watched alone but it is really good. They manage to capture the original story and essence of Pinocchio so well and give an amazing fresh new spin on it. Set against the backdrop of war, this movie is such an adventure. The characters are lively, Pinocchio is so charming and lovely. The angels are mysterious. At times Gepetto’s grief is so palpable I didn’t know what to do with myself. This score gets an easy 9 just for the song Ciao Papa alone 😭

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Magdalene) I love the Inspector Gamache books and was excited and nervous to see it adapted into a tv show for the first time, but to my delight it was really good! Each book/mystery was covered in two episodes, which I thought was a good call. Of course the show doesn't go into as much depth as the books, and there are some changes to storylines and characters, but nothing that made me really mad. I'd say it's a worthwhile watch for fans and non-fans alike.

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Magdalene) I don't have anything to say that everyone else hasn't already said. It looked amazing and I enjoyed watching it, but it was too long and the word "bro" was said an absurd amount of times.

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Magdalene) More linguistics! This focuses on the language used in cultish circumstances - by actual cult leaders, but also anyone who is trying to encourage complete devotion, like MLMs and CrossFit. Compared to her last book, Wordslut, this book is less focused on traditional linguistics and more on sociolinguistics, and is more about the phenomenon of cults and in-groups in general, so I liked it less, but it was still very fascinating and great for anyone interested in the topic. I personally appreciated the look at Christianese and how that's also cultish by only allowing insiders to understand fully.

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Magdalene) It was impossible not to go into this book without expectations, since I have been hearing about it nonstop on Booktok and elsewhere. It was written by the same author who wrote The Poppy Wars, which I read but didn't care for even though everyone else raves about it, but I was willing to give this one a try because it revolves around language and translation. It's a quite long fantasy, alternative history novel. It's about Robin, a Chinese boy who gets taken to Oxford when he's young as a language prodigy, and eventually starts to attend Babel, the translation school at Oxford where they use translation for silver-working (magic, essentially). As Robin attends school, he enters a secret society and learns about a revolution that's happening to disrupt England's colonial takeover. This book is complex, and there's a lot going on. The author is obviously incredibly intelligent and knows her stuff, and I loved the dee...

⭐ 10.0/10 (Originally written by Jess Dyck) Just popping on for my usually bimonthly weview to say I agree with Tim’s review completely and I just think this is the best show I’ve seen this year. I know Andor held that spot for me but I just had SUCH a good time watching these episodes of Lotus, I was genuinely sad to see it end, and I keep wanting to watch it and then being sad when I realize I already have. Jennifer Coolidge is just everything this season, and a surprise visit from Mr. Collins (Tom Hollander) as a gay bestie really was perfection 🙌 I loved these characters, all of their horrific messed up selves, and I was SO entertained. Plus top notch location and some vacation views to dream about, what’s not to love

⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) It feels wrong to rate anything by Kendrick less than a 10. And my score by no means reflects that art that he creates. Unfortunately for me rap just isn’t a genre I gravitate towards to naturally. However I had to make an exception for arguably the best lyricist to exist. It’s very clear that Kendrick is passionate about his work and what he’s saying. In every song he just seems so earnest. This might be too on the nose but he really does seem like a humble person considering his fame. He talks through a lot of really deep issues within this album. Trauma, family issues, relationship problems, faith, therapy, lgbtq issues, and many more. A power that I think Kendrick has is that he has important things to say in a way that makes you think. I can’t say that about a lot of music. Die Hard, We Cry Together, Auntie Diaries, and The Heart Part 5 are my favourites.

⭐ 10.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) This is a book about running and I know it’s really lame to read stuff about exercise and sports but man I can almost guarantee that everyone would love this book. Or at least appreciate and marvel at what the author is saying. It starts with him having running injuries and asking the question of how do runners avoid this, and how did we as a species become runners in the first place? He weaves in and out of the history of running, the evolution of humans, the science and nutrition of running, the super stars of running of past and present, all to lead up to the greatest ultramarathon the world has never seen between the best runners of America and the Tarahumara tribe of Mexico. This book was truly, truly an adventure and I loved every second of it. Not only did it make me love running and want to do more of it, it also made me want to be a better person. This book covers so much ground (haha get it) and offers a lot of info regarding running bu...

⭐ 8.5/10 (Originally written by Joseph) I am legitimately conflicted as to how to review this one. In true Muppet fashion, it's pretty odd. Michael Caine comes in and gives a legitimately terrific, earnest effort, but also when he's begging for forgiveness, he's doing it at the feet of a 14 foot puppet. This movie is wholesome and funny, but weirdly it's like it doesn't always want to be that? I definitely thought there was a bit of an identity crisis. I think it should have dropped trying to be serious and go all-in on funny. And yet I can't stop thinking about this weird movie! Mostly it's because this is a musical, and there are a few absolute bangers that I have been replaying over and over. I feel like I always remember musicals fondly because I can go back to the terrific songs and forget about the 5-6 songs that are pretty boring. This movie has plenty of both. But "Scrooge," "Christmas Scat" and "Thankful Heart" are so g...

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) Watched this through the power of WeView and man, this was so good! It was funny and cute, had beautiful women and so, so touching. I haven’t seen Kristen Stewart in a ton besides Twilight, but she was good here and showed really great emotion. The other main lead was good too and they had great chemistry. Had some really good laughs all around and cried a good amount - in a good way not a sad way. Would recommend this for the holiday season!

⭐ 8.5/10 (Originally written by Tim) No this isn't The Way of Water, this is the rewatch of the biggest movie of all time. My main takeaway - this one still holds up. Sure it doesn't have the spectacular visuals I remember from the theaters, but even on my TV at home I felt transported to this world once again. Everyone has heard the plot of movies like this a hundred times, but I think the creation of the world and the genuine heart that has been poured into the details of Pandora make it feel fresh. I felt my heart racing as those dragons dove through the skies! The villain is so cartoonish, but man is it so satisfying to see him get what's coming. The dialogue is terrible as well, full of one-liners that definitely don't hold up. But on the plus side, I did think the movie moved quite quickly for an almost 3 hour adventure. I wouldn't describe a single scene as boring, and I was in awe a couple times and how fully engaged I was with CGI creatures so quickly. Like...

⭐ 10.0/10 (Originally written by Tim) The first season of this show was one of my favourites in that year, and this season has capped off what has been an incredible year of TV. Even better than the first season, we are now in Italy. We start of with 2 dead bodies, not just one, then flash back to a week before and watch the madness unfold. I think what made this season perfect is the characters. Again we have rich entitled folks at a high end resort, but these character felt a bit less cookie cutter. I usually save my MVP for the end, but Aubrey Plaza, an eye-rolling actress I often can't stand, killed it for me. Her and her humble but recently rich husband are vacationing with a rich toxic couple, since the guys were roommates in college. The dynamics here are so rich and made me squirm so many times, and the tension gets ramped up episode by episode. In just 7 episodes the characters go through so much transformation, and you feel empathy for all of them even despite how much th...

⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Tim) This is a pretty clear classic Zelda ripoff and I loved it. I shouldn't say ripoff, but it is clearly inspired by those original games, and packs a ton more into that Zelda-shaped package. You are a cute fox in a beautiful world, and as you unlock different weapons and abilities the world also opens up. The interesting part of this game is that almost everything is written in a different language, and as you play you find pages of the instruction manual, almost like the ones old games used to come with in their boxes. This is how you get maps, but also how you learn about moves and abilities and ways to interact with the world. The meant the game really opened up at times, and the final hours of the game were a complete delight, learning about how to solve puzzles that had been in my face all game. The crowing achievement of this game is the mountain door puzzle, a puzzle that you see somewhat early but literally cannot solve until the very...

⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Will) While we're talking about Christmas movies, just wanted to put this one out there as clearly the best of the Home Alone series!

⭐ 7.5/10 (Originally written by Will) This is the first book in a YA series by Sanderson about a post-apocalyptic world where a bunch of humans started manifesting super powers, but turns out humans are terrible and so they mostly turn themselves into kings of their own cities all over the place, and governments everywhere collapse. A group of regular humans bands together to start assassinating the super heroes in various clever ways. I haven't watched The Boys, but this sounds like a pretty similar thing? This book came out in 2013 though, so Sanderson beat them to it, though the book is YA of course, so not super dark. Overall there's nothing groundbreaking here, but it's plenty of fun if you don't think about it too hard. I'll probably skip the sequels because I'm not too interested in a series right now (there's four books total).

⭐ 7.5/10 (Originally written by Will) This is a juvenile fantasy novel by Sanderson - I had suggested Evelyn give it a try because she loves fantasy stuff and figured Sanderson might be able to put out some good juvenile stuff, and I guess I wasn't wrong? Shockingly, it's short enough to read in a few hours. The book is pretty absurd overall, and the humor is definitely juvenile - too much so for me, but I heard Evelyn laughing out loud a few times. I didn't bother with the sequels, but Evelyn is going through the rest.

⭐ 8.5/10 (Originally written by Jess) A true Christmas classic to watch with the family.

⭐ 8.5/10 (Originally written by Jess) Don't ask me why.

⭐ 6.0/10 (Originally written by Jess) Visually beautiful. Besides that, meh.

⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) Jess gets angry when I don't give her credit for picking a movie I like, so I guess I'll start this one by saying that yes, she picked a good Christmas movie. Indeed, this movie has a lot of themes similar to things I've been enjoying lately. It is essentially the 1940s boy version of Anne of Green Gables, where it follows a young kid who gets into all sorts of scrapes, all for the purposes of being funny and relatable, and seldom for the purpose of connecting to an overarching plot. I thought it was really funny how a boy's life can feel so relatable all these years later. Everything in this depends on it feeling that sense of nostalgia, and seeing the brothers fight, or seeing them negotiate who will lick the cold flagpole all bring you right back to that phase in life. I thought this movie was hilarious, led by an incredible child actor, with terrific additions from the dad and teacher. Honestly, I can think of very few movies ...

⭐ 7.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) Man oh man what a roller coaster with this one. Every year I say I'm not playing the new game, and every year I do it anyways. So after reviews called this the funnest Pokemon game in a decade, I was suckered into paying ninety whole dollars. Five hours in and I instantly regretted it because it has all the hallmarks. Boring, annoying story for babies. Forever long animations. Baby-level difficulty. It's almost like I should stop playing games made for babies! But obviously, I wasn't going to not play a game I paid that money for. So I tried to make my own fun. Turns out it's possible! To its credit, this game has a new emphasis on exploration and catching pokemon (similar to Arceus). I found this to be quite rewarding as I almost finished the Dex during just my playthrough. Constantly finding new pokemon and evolving old ones kept a nice consistent dopamine flow that got me through. Truly, exploration in open world games comes do...

⭐ 7.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) This movie, I think, is very simple to review. Visually, this is perhaps the most stunning and impressive movie that has ever been made. But it is also over three hours, and once the novelty of the effects wears off, you are left with a totally unoriginal and poorly written action movie. Now, this movie knows that looking good is it's entire purpose. It feels more like a nature documentary with long, extended scenes existing just to show you something cool. I feel like so many of these twenty minute scenes would have been cut in post, but they costed a kajillion dollars each and so you can't justify cutting anything. I loved the visual marvel, and even towards the end I still loved them in a way. But I was getting so antsy by the end I just wanted it to stop. We were in the theater till 2:30am so yeah, I was definitely getting ahead on a little sleep. Otherwise this movie kinda sucks. The plot is completely uninspired. This is the exact f...

⭐ 6.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) Y'all, I don't know what Jess liked about this movie. To me, it felt kinda uninspired and kinda boring. It has a lot of crappy CGI and a child actor that is a little awkward and uneven. A pretty soapy Christmas movie. Meh. 🤷‍♂️

⭐ 10.0/10 (Originally written by Tim) In a year of incredible TV, this is the show I savoured the most, watching episodes weeks apart. The first season of the show was quirky and fun, with our main cast of kids on the reservation kind of avoiding their feelings about one of their friends committing suicide. The season is still quirky, but tackles the grief head on, and I probably cried during 7 of the 10 episodes. Every choice in this show is note perfect. Season 1 sets the stage, and now the characters are let loose, and it feels so real and lived in. Each character kind of gets an episode to shine, and you learn more about their connection to Daniel and what his absence means. It is really touching, and the interesting thing is that when they show you flashbacks of Daniel he was kind of a jerk! Regardless the crater he leaves behind is felt and the emotional moments really punch you in the chest. I talked last season about the role of representation in this show, and season 2 pays di...

⭐ 10.0/10 (Originally written by Jess) Loved it.

⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) Believe it or not this was my first time ever watching this movie. For some reason I feel like this is or should be an all time classic? Even though there are some really serious themes within I think it’s great. Robin Williams is so great and this performance makes his untimely passing even more sad. His desire to make the world a better place and improve people’s quality of life is so noble. This movie is charming, funny, so sad at times and so great. I really enjoyed myself.

⭐ 5.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) What I wanted to watch was Psycho by Hitchcock. But this is the one that was both on Netflix and on my poster, so here we are. Let me just say that if you actually enjoy watching this movie, you are a sicko and need to get checked into a hospital. This movie is twenty years old, and I actually think there'd be a lot of discussion about if this movie should exist if it came out today. Then again, the Jeffery Dahmer show did numbers, so maybe not. But it is so grim, so disturbing, and generally just so sickening that I'm not sure it could be called an edifying watch in any capacity. This movie is supposed to be satire, or at least based on a satirical novel, and I get that. The writing is really terrific, the performances, especially by Bale, are really great. Truly, it makes me like Christian Bale even more with how versatile he really is. But I just have this worry that people like these movies for the wrong reasons and I can't get ov...

⭐ 5.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) It's Christmas movie season and I'm always looking for the next classic. A musical featuring the greatest Christmas movie lead of all time? How could this go wrong?? Ryan Reynolds, that's how. Man, I hate that fricker. Nobody is unfunnier in all of Hollywood. Name me one role this guy has been in where he's been funny. None? Thought so. Unfortunately this is also completely the wrong role for Will Ferrell as well. The problem with him here is that this is a musical and Will Farrel can't sing. Why does this keep happening? This isn't La La Land where you actually need good acting to make it work. Cast some singers! This movie is a full cast of people who can't sing and so to cover it up they give them this very weird autotune and it's all very bad. They filmed the movie in New York - was every aspiring Broadway actor busy? There are actually a lot of pretty good songs here, so it's a shame they squandered it. I ...

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Tim) I fear that anything less than a 9 for this book might spark outrage from our founder, but honesty is key. I liked this book, read it very quickly, and am excited to see where it goes from here. Fantasy short story is something I don't have a lot of experience with, and I liked the setup for all of these! It reminded me of Asimov, the king of sci-fi short stories, where Geralt is a man with principles and each story either proves them or puts them to the test. I can't say any one of them really stood out as the favourite, and a couple confused me. The final one was the most intriguing to me, but then ends with a baffling sex scene and a cliffhanger that I read is never really resolved? Kind of cool, but in the moment it felt abrupt. I liked the little interludes as well, where you learn more about what Witchers are. Geralt is a great protagonist, and having played the game I felt an instant connection. The game is great because of this deep ...

⭐ 7.0/10 (Originally written by Tim) This is a typical Christmas story where a couple goes to one of their parents' house for Christmas. The twist here is that it is a lesbian couple and the parents think its just her roommate. Hijinks ensue, they get put in some funny situations, in the end it brings the family closer. The ending was actually pretty emotional, and seeing the acceptance of the parents (spoiler? Not really you know what this movie is) is touching. My main takeaway from here was that I still don't like Aubrey Plaza, and her grouchy persona is tiring. BUT I have been watching White Lotus season 2 where she is used perfectly and I will have a lot more to say soon. So ya, a couple things landed, a bunch didn't and I laughed pretty hard a couple times. The 2 leads had pretty good chemistry I thought (Kristen Stewart being another actor I usually don't like), and it felt modern without shoving your face in it. Nice new-ish Christmas movie.

⭐ 6.0/10 (Originally written by Tim) It's been a long time since the previous Mistborn book, but I have not really loved any of this second era. For those who have read the original Mistborn trilogy, this is a 4 book sequel series that takes place a couple hundred years later. Think mistborn powers but with guns and evolving technology, a cool idea that never really landed for me. I have a ton of negatives here, but I do love Brandon's worldbuilding still. The way technology effects the magical powers, and vice versa, especially as technology evolves, is a really cool idea and I like how scientific he gets with it. As much as Rhythm of War bored me, the deep dive into the magic of that world was satisfying and memorable to me. In this book the world is rapidly changing, and the politics of the first section were interesting to me. Unfortunately it was downhill from there. Plot is the typical ""bad guy has nuclear bomb and wants to blow up the city to help h...

⭐ 7.0/10 (Originally written by Tim) I have loved The Crown up to this point, but this season was a huge disappointment. Most of all I just found it boring. The queen feels old and irrelevant in a changing world? Been there. Phillip feels useless and searches for meaning in his hobbies? Been there. Charles is unhappy? Been there. Thematically it felt like the show was treading water, and only the episodes that focused on the drama of the divorce were interesting because they felt fresh. I have always hated when the show opens with historical figures doing things, and then later connecting it to the royal family, and there was a bit of that here. Just never lands for me, and the setup feels forced. All the stuff with the Egyptian guys felt like boilerplate setup for the next season, and I hate that. See my forthcoming review of The Lost Metal for more. The show still looks great, but the writing was a step down for me. I also struggled to connect with the new cast, something ...

⭐ 7.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) So this is a standalone witcher novel that takes place between some of the earlier short stories. It is the last bit of witcher writing currently available in English and so I was putting it aside for a rainy day. It was a bit of a mess. I suspect that because this was published during the time of rising witcher popularity, Sapkowski kinda tossed together some shorts or half-written novel ideas and cashed in. There are a few threads here, but they never really intertwine much and feel disjointed. As short stories, some are quite good. As a novel, it never really works. Geralt has little in way of motivation (get his swords back, I guess?) and nothing really spurring him on or tying things together. He just meanders around and does witcher stuff. That, plus i think this was some of his weaker writing. It includes a lot of his bad habits from his earlier stories (which is why I suspect these were written well before publication) such as poorly writ...

⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) One of my favorite genres of late has been mindless, high-budget action movies that rely more on stunts and choreography than CGI/ effects (so like, pre-marvel Hollywood). This movie is just that. It's certainly not mindless, and there is a pretty complex plot, but either way you can turn your brain off and enjoy it whether you understand the stakes or not. I think Top Gun made people remember that these kinds of movies are amazing, and everyone needs to go back and watch Mission Impossible! There are a ton of incredible sequences here. Jess and I were laughing time and again at the preposterous situations that Tom Cruise is constantly being put in. The Dubai tower run is an all-time sequence both for its action and humor value. The car dive was also amazing. So yeah, just an awesome movie that is easy to love. It's essentially flawless as far as action movies go, but obviously it won't draw some sort of emotional response that I thin...

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) I had seen a few things online when this just came out and thought it looked pretty interesting. I would describe it as a teen drama/ murder mystery. And it was pretty good! Absolutely nothing crazy or revolutionary, but I enjoyed every episode and the characters were great. Jenna Ortega who plays Wednesday was absolutely mesmerizing and easily stole the show.

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Rebecca) That's right, I'm still on my bullshit (reading books about antarctic exploration during the turn of the 20th century). I don't know exactly what drove me to read this one, a 600-page tome about the 1901-1904 Swedish expedition, except that I do and it's that it sounded a lot like the Endurance expedition. Similarly, these fellas ended up stranded out there for several years without knowing exactly how they'd get back. But they had it a bit better--there was more wildlife for them to eat, and most of them had pretty decent shelters. "Most of them?" you ask? Yeah, they were separated into 3 groups, all separately stranded on different islands. Anyway, the twists in this one were pretty insane, but the really interesting stuff only started like 40% of the way in, and before that it was a lot of science and geography. The book was written by 4 different guys from the expedition, and the main guy wasn't exactly a gr...

⭐ 7.5/10 (Originally written by Beans) This was a random movie I watched with friends that stars Kristen Bell, Allison Janney, and Ben Platt. It’s not great, not even sure it’s good.. but I really enjoyed it and had some good laughs! I think the acting saves this movie. Now I wouldn’t say it’s incredible acting but these people all know what they’re doing.