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⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Magdalene) I didn't expect to love this book, but it hit me pretty deep. Mara is a closeted butch lesbian, more comfortable hanging out with the boys. When she needs to join a team sport to get her place on the basketball team back after a fight, she decides to play football. She unintentionally inspires other girls to play football as well, but doesn't want to be lumped in with those girly girls. She just wants to play football, not get articles written about her. But the way the team and others react to the girls on the team has her rethinking her relationships with both boys and girls. As someone who was tomboyish as a teen and very much didn't want to be "like the rest of the girls" because of internalized misogyny, this book had me considering the ways I've acted as well. Seeing Mara change in the way she saw other girls was great, and echoed a lot of my own internal work. It felt like the best kinds of girl power - one whe...

⭐ 10.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) This show for me was a solid 8 throughout the first 7 episodes but after that last episode this is where I land. I don’t know if it’s actually a 10 but what the hell. I loved it. This show is genuinely funny and it’s crazy how it all worked out. At one point Ronald even says, “this feels like a reality tv show!” All people involved are absurdly insane and it was amazing to see the main character interact with all of them. The star is obviously Ronald and his kindness towards all his peers. The last episode had me choking up because it was just so nice and kind and Ronald does deserve all the praise!!

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Tim) Finally got around to finishing this second season, and I thought it was way way better than the first. Laughs every episode, but let's be honest shows like this hinge on the office romance. Greg and Janine have real chemistry, and I think the arc they go on this season is really satisfying. Much like The Office I worry that the show will go downhill once they are official, but it seems like the show is smartly delaying that. The will-they-won't-they is all the good stuff! Aside from that, I felt every character found their groove. Can't say I love the janitor with his Creed quirkiness, and I also hate Melissa, who has the Creed dark-side but is also trying to do the the Philly sports fan thing, its just a little much. I hated Ava first season but she was great here. We watched this season way too quickly and were sad when it was over. I am a bit tired of the mockumentary style show, and every character "Jims" the camera way t...

⭐ 10.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) This is an incredible, alternative, magical history book about Empire, translation, languages, and revolution. Interestingly, the thing that got me into this book - apart from all the hype - was my friend telling me that he thinks every bible college student should be required to read this as a prerequisite.  This is a long, expansive book. It covers many years, different seasons, and a few continents. It has many great, complex characters. I feel like Kuang writes complexity really well and helps us to see the world as more than black and white and helps us shift our dualistic mindset.  There was a lot I loved in this book. The translation and interpretation part was probably the biggest. There’s a line that goes something like “every translation is a betrayal of the original text” and ya, that seems obvious. But in terms of biblical study and interpretation it really makes you think about what our reading of scripture means. I kept goi...

⭐ 7.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) I was really looking forward to finally getting into this one after loving all the other ESJM books I've read, plus this one being more sci-fi focused. I'll admit straight away that I was a little disappointed. This book is pretty classic ESJM style, with lots of interwoven POVs, bouncing around in time. However, this one really bounces around, ranging from a century ago to a few centuries in the future, and you're not quite sure what the connections will be. I think this is a slight spoiler, so beware: I think my main disappointment is that this book deals with time travel, and time travel never ever makes any sense. What's the deal here? Are they making a multiverse every time they travel? Does anything they do effect anything, and to what degree? She kinda dances around these issues a few times, but it never satisfied me. You know that the main guy's choices have consequences, but we never really find out what they are. I...

⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) After kinda casually watching the first season over a few months, we totally raced through season 2. I complained a bit about the second book being boring, and wondered if that would be the case here. Not really! Now admittedly, I think this season really benefits from actually taking a lot of plot points from book 3. Robb is pretty stationary in book 2, but gets the whole arc with that hottie from Volantis in this season. Jon meets Ygritte near the end of book 2, but it happens midway through the season. So a few arcs get sped up, and I think it adds a lot. I think my favorite POV this season is Arya's. I didn't love her chapters in book 2, so credit the showrunners and Maisie Williams for bringing this to life. She is fantastic in these early seasons, and all her time spent with Tywin is maybe my favorite part of this season. All the stuff with Jaqen H'ghar (what a sexy name) has a great sense of mystery and intrigue. Otherwise, jus...

⭐ 6.0/10 (Originally written by Tim) After seeing some bad takes on Oppenheimer, I decided to revisit a Nolan movie I don't like despite all my friends liking. Hadn't seen it since the theatres, and turns out I still don't like it. The visuals here are great, in particular everything around the black holes. Also, that docking sequence is a top tier space movie moment, its been done a million times but Nolan's aesthetic with the Zimmer score make it amazing. But this movie is too long and tries to do so much more than just be a spectacle so I can't let that move the score for me. The standout scene is definitely the call montage with his kids, that is just an amazing idea for a story like this and it feels like the seed the whole movie was born from. Okay onto what I don't like. Number one, Murph. The name is so corny with the Murphy's Law stuff. The whole movie hinges on her being so heartbroken at her dad leaving, but we are supposed to also believe she is ...

⭐ 7.0/10 (Originally written by Tim) I'll start by saying that I liked this move more than I thought I would. It's a movie about a toy for girls, so clearly I am not the target audience, but I found I liked the premise, the fact that it didn't shy away from some of the problematic aspects of Barbie, and not to be a guy that likes the guy characters but Ken was pretty funny. Him seeing that montage of American masculinity and getting all amped up was great, and later when they are trying to take control, I just thought the stereotypical bro stuff was funny. I also respect the originality. This movie is weird, with lots of practical sets. The whole opening, where you kind of see how Barbie world works and it mimics how people would have played with the dolls, that is clever and I like it. Now the negatives. Lots of it wasn't funny. Lots of it was very corny and eye-rolly. Again, as a guy who never played with Barbie I won't comment on the overall theme, but I los...

⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Magdalene) This show continues to be just so heart-squeezy and hopeful. It wasn't as addicting as the first season, as it focuses more on Nick and Charlie's established relationship, but it was still wonderful in its own way. I love that it gave more screen time to the secondary characters, and they all have their own lives and arcs. I was so glad Isaac got more screen time, and found his storyline especially poignant.

⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Magdalene) This is book 3 in the Locked Tomb series, and I continue to not completely understand what is happening at any point, and yet I can't stop reading these books! I can't say much about it without explaining the first two books as well, but the way the world-building is unfolded and revealed bit by bit throughout the series is so impressive. Finally some answers to questions from book 1! Nona is a delight, and although I wish the books weren't quite as abstruse, I continue to be amazed by the weird and utterly unique world Muir has created.

⭐ 5.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) Reviewing is documentary is kinda weird because what am I reviewing? How well the information is presented? The ability of the creators to craft a narrative from true events? The degree to which I agree with the people in the documentary? I think reviewing this documentary is unique because it is basically a sports movie with a main character who wants something and sets out to accomplish it. For those unaware, it is about Alex Honnold, a climber, who sets out to "free solo" El Capitan, essentially climbing a massive cliff face with no equipment. Obviously the whole thrust of this documentary is that if he falls, he will die, and this is incredibly dangerous because he is not Spiderman. Anyways, I didn't enjoy this documentary because Alex is a massive asshole. He doesn't care about anyone in his life, and just wants to climb the rock. He is really mean to his girlfriend, and when she asks if he considers her feelings when doing...

⭐ 9.5/10 (Originally written by Tim) Branching out from my usual genre, I decided to check out this book before the movie comes out later in the year. And I didn’t realize until I picked it up that this is a true story! I have never been into “true crime”, but this is exactly that, and I couldn’t put it down. This follows a fascinating account of the Osage, a group of Indians (I know I know, this is how they are referred to in the book, so I am going to use that word here) that were forced onto a small reservation in Oklahoma that later had oil discovered on it. This made the Osage incredibly rich, like very very rich. The pictures of traditionally dressed Osage driving fancy cars is pretty cool, and it sounds like a happy story right? Well, a bunch of them start getting murdered. This book follows the investigation from the newly created FBI into these murders. First off, I can’t believe how long this stuff takes. This isn’t like an episode of CS...

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Tim) It had been a while since I had seen this movie, and since another space movie wasn't cutting it for me I decided to revisit. I love the world in this movie, which is essentially just a spaceship. The physical details are all so great, and I can't imagine the amount of time it must have taken to make these sets. It feels so gritty and scary. The monsters as well, using practical effects for everything has some limits for sure, but the best and most visceral moments are all done with amazing practical effects. A well crafted movie through and through. I will say I don't like how heavily it leans on jump scares, but I don't really love scary movies anyways. The world that is implied to exist without showing you flashbacks or things on earth is so amazing, and I love how simple the plot is. Not exactly my cup of tea, but an amazing movie.

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) This is now the fourth book in the Anne series, and it's definitely an odd one. Anne has gone off to teach at a school during the years of her engagement, so she is away from home. This book is half letters to Gilbert describing her time, and the other half just normal prose doing the exact same thing. It's a bit of an odd narration choice, not that I minded, because you get a little closer of a look into the mind of Anne, which is kinda what I've been wanting these last books. However, there are NO appearances from previous characters. There is one short chapter where they appear in passing, but this book is all about Summerside and the people she meets there. I can't prove this (I even did some research) but what I think happened is that she published book 5, then years later went back to do book 4, and so couldn't really effect the overarching plot. That would explain a lot, because this book feels like an assortment of sho...

⭐ 9.5/10 (Originally written by Joseph) After taking a few months to beat Zelda, it was nice to play a game you can beat in a few sittings. Portal took me about 3 hours, and that's about the amount of time it takes to beat a Zelda dungeon, and I decided to play this game in part because I was still on a puzzle high after that one. I actually think Valve and Nintendo have similar gaming philosophies. But while Zelda was 120 hours with plenty to love and not love, Portal is 3 perfect hours of gaming. It really succeeds on every level. The puzzles are genius, the physics are brilliant (also how did they make this?!), and the story is hilarious! Very witty interjections from the robots that have you trapped in their futuristic hellscape testing facility. This is sci-fi done right, so kudos to the writers. There is just enough plot to keep this game rolling along without getting in the way. So yeah, totally recommend this one. Loved everything about it. The companion cube killed me, and...

⭐ 5.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) As a recent Mario hater-turned-enjoyer, I can say officially that this score does not reflect any anti-Mario bais. It's just really super not funny. I can't imagine anyone over 12 liking this movie, but then I read Bean's review... There were a LOT of video game references that I kinda enjoyed because I've played A LOT of Mario this past year. But also I think this movie reflected a lot of issues with video game movies. It's not fun watching Mario beat levels. I want to watch a movie, not a video game that you can't play. I will admit I enjoyed the music themes coming up. I was expecting a few "Mamma Mias," but this has like 6 more than I could have imagined. In fact, there are not one but TWO slow-motion Mamma Mias. Each one got funnier and funnier and by the end I nearly cracked a smile. Otherwise, Jack Black was actually quite funny here, and by far the best part. He indeed made me laugh like 2 seperate times,...

⭐ 9.5/10 (Originally written by Beans) Had to give this a watch after reading Joe’s 10/10 review. I think this is one of the most unique movies I’ve ever seen. Or, at least unique in the way that it perfectly executes all moving parts. The atmosphere, the characters, the tension, the motivations, the romance, the family! Everything plays a part to create an incredible story that is very hard to watch yet leads to this grand crescendo. Indeed, I yelled, audibly gasped, and screamed multiple times throughout. Many great moments that made me angry, happy, sad, elated; again, this movie does it all. I thought Miles Teller plays this little nerd perfectly and Simmons was the perfect antagonist. Just so ruthless and unrelenting, and yet, at times, I found myself agreeing with some of his philosophy. What *does* it take to become great? Does being great create bad people or are they bad people and that leads them to greatness? It’s such an interesting question, and I think even more topical n...

⭐ 8.5/10 (Originally written by Magdalene) I read this for the Knives Out comp, mostly, and I think it delivered! The narrator is a mystery-writing-how-to-guide writer, and writes about this event in his life through that lens. He has a tense family reunion at a wintery mountain lodge in Australia the day his brother gets out of jail, and a man shows up dead the next morning. Complicating the matter is the fact that, as the title shows, everyone in his family has killed someone, although the reader finds out as the book goes on whether these murders happened in the past or during this reunion. It's a murder mystery, but with a fairly light and humourous tone, even though some of the deaths are pretty tragic. It feels like every detail is in there for a reason, and things came together in a surprising way for me. There's lots of meta commentary by the narrator that makes it extra fun.

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) This is a zany, raunchy comedy about 4 Asian women that go to china together and get caught up in the cross fires of a bunch of wild antics! This was really, really funny, but not a movie I’d recommend to a lot of people. They tagged a bit of a touching story at the end that actually worked really well and I totally bought into. I’m really loving these adult comedies lately and hope for more to come.

⭐ 9.5/10 (Originally written by Joseph) I put ONE HUNDRIT AND TWENTY HOURS into this game. That might be my most played single-player game ever? Or at least to beat the story? So obviously if I played it that much, I really liked it. In fact, it is one of my favorite games I've ever played. However, much like Breath of the Wild before it, I started out thinking it might be the best game ever, but by the end I was either a little cooled off or maybe burnt out.  This game has a million things going on, and although I'd like to comment on all of them, I'll try to limit myself cuz I know this is already going to be REALLY long. I feel like the important aspects of this game for me were exploration, combat, puzzles, quests, and then the story which kinda combines all of those, especially with the temples. In this game, I played the intro, explored for 80 hours, then finished the story.  I think exploration is the strongest aspect of this game. I loved exploring every inch of thi...

⭐ 9.5/10 (Originally written by Joseph) We kinda just started watching episodes here and there, and then what do you know? We finished a season. This show is great if you want to watch a movie in the evening that is only 50 minutes long, which seems to have been the vibe recently. Anyways, similar to the book, this season of TV is phenomenal. This season is the tightest, everything leading to those final episodes. It focuses on all the best characters with really no weak storylines at all here that I can think of, and some characters having their best moments. Plus this season has the most sexy Dothraki. We watched this over the span of a few months, so I can't say I have a lot of clarity on some of those earlier episodes. One thing that certainly jumped out to me was the child acting, with Arya being terrific, but also nothing compared to the absolute force that is Geoffrey. Never in the history of film or TV have we wanted a child to die, choking on his own blood like we have wit...

⭐ 7.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) This is very much not a good movie. It’s based off the bestselling novel about the president of the US’ son falling in love with the nephew of the King of Britain. But I still had fun watching it! It’s very cringey and lame and over the top but I love that queer media is getting more attention and media content. Had a few funny one liners but I can’t actually imagine that anyone else, save for a few specific people, would enjoy watching this. But that’s not what it’s about! It’s about the very sexy two main characters.

⭐ 10.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) Somehow I convinced my seniors to watch this with me for a movie night, and of course it was a big hit! This movie has a lot of swears, but let me tell ya, this crowd ain't your mom's book club. Anyways, this movie is incredible. A tight 100 minute masterpiece that I've watched several times and consider to be maybe my favorite movie of the 2010s, with the exception of another movie by the same director. It's all about Myles Teller trying to become a great drummer, and JK Simmons trying to create the next great drummer, both pushing the boundaries of what a human should do. I like this movie because I think it explores this important question but doesn't really provide an answer. The finale is fantastic, but are we even happy that two bad people (one for certain, the other probably) got exactly what they wanted? I think it leaves the question of greatness vs happiness open and lets us decide. Anyways, it's a great movie b...

⭐ 9.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) This was an awesome season of tv. I used to think I wanted to be a chef, but eating food and making food are very different - a distinction I never really made but this show does a good job of showcasing. I did work as a line cook at Red Robin and really enjoyed my time there though! There was a lot to love in this season. Everyone learned good communication skills and a lot of characters got their own episode. Personally, Sydney’s was my favourite, but I won’t comment on her socioeconomic status. Marcus’ was sweet and Ritchies was amazing. The Christmas episode was so tough to watch but so so good and you really get a peak behind the curtain. A small beef I kind of had with the first season was that it was too tidy, but now this one felt too messy!! I wanted more resolution! There’s no winning with me.

⭐ 8.0/10 (Originally written by Beans) Let it be known that I was calling Oppenheimer “Oppie” well before I saw this movie. I just wanted a cute, fun little nickname that allowed me to know him better; I guess his colleagues thought the same thing! This movie was a lot and I’m conflicted. I liked a lot about it, but there was a bunch I didn’t. I’ll start there. TOO LONG. They should’ve shaved a full hour off of this movie. It went from exploring the actions of this complex, nuanced mad scientist to rooting for him to get his security clearance. I know that’s a bit reductive but it’s how I felt. Also, these timelines just annoyed me. I know Nolan is really good at this type of thing but it took a while to catch up. This next one is minor, but how in the hell is this little twink a womanizer?? Just seemed silly. Now on to the good. I thought the story was really compelling. I was interested for most of the whole movie. Einstein was awesome, albeit a bit goofy! I have a hilarious TikTok a...

⭐ 5.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) You may have heard some casual movie fans say that they enjoyed this movie, but now it's my turn to review it. I, unlike other simpletons, have standards. Just look at my profile pic. Anyways, if you are wondering if you should watch this movie, ask yourself, do you like good movies? If so, don't watch this. But if you like hearing drawn out court cases, and are wondering if Oppenheimer might have had communist connections, and also if a guy named Straus was unfair in his evaluation of if Oppenheimer had communist connections, then this is the one for you. But for real, I was actually incredibly disappointed in this movie. I thought it had a million chances to not just say some really interesting things, but to make me feel things I had never felt before. This movie was primed to make me feel a sense of dread and disgust like no other movie could. What I really wanted was a movie where you get to know Oppenheimer, a guy in a tough positi...

⭐ 6.0/10 (Originally written by Joseph) So I didn't like this movie much, but I knew I wouldn't. It was a movie I had my eye on, but when it got terrible reviews I decided not to bother. But now it's summer, I was wasting a holiday afternoon, so why not? So this movie actually has a pretty interesting premise. Adam Driver is technically an alien living a long time ago (that is exactly like a human) and is travelling space when he crash lands into an unknown planet. That planet is earth! But 65 million years ago when dinosaurs were here! Pretty cool right?? This way we get futuristic sci-fi, but also dinos! And Adam Diver! Anyways, this movie wasn't good, but it made me really wonder what was bad about it. I didn't connect with it, but it's hard to put my finger on why. I actually think it's a fascinating case study. It has a lot of smaller dumb things that don't quite add up, but so does Star Wars. Driver isn't necessarily interesting, but neither is...

⭐ 8.5/10 (Originally written by Joseph) I was a bit up and down with this season. I mostly thought it was slightly better than season 1 because the characters are established, and so now we get to go a bit deeper into each one. Everyone kinda gets their own personal arc and I liked that. As far as personal episodes go, I loved Sidney's (so much good food, but aren't you poor?!) and I thought Marcus's has a cool atmosphere. However, one thing I think this show really struggles with is finding that medium volume. They do a good job at having these very stressful scenes, where everything is chaotic and everyone is talking over each other -- I think it's kinda their signature thing now -- then they do a great job of slowing things down and talking quiet. But I felt the former to be exhausting, and the latter to be incredibly cheesy by the end. So many incredibly corny lines in the late episodes that I just felt were what bad shows do. You are allowed like 4 per season, not ...

⭐ 10.0/10 (Originally written by Magdalene) I thought we didn't need another TMNT movie, but turns out we did! This movie was so fun and hilarious. My favourite aspect was the dynamics between the four turtle brothers. They got great voice actors for all four who you could tell were actual teenagers, and the dialogue was so authentic. The way they spoke over each other and played off each other, they must've been recording in the same room together! Delightful.

⭐ 9.5/10 (Originally written by Beans) This movie is so good. I’m so so happy that animation is having such a strong, diverse resurgence. This movie is definitely a Gen Z movie but in all the right ways. The lingo and the jokes and the attitudes are just spot on and hilarious. The voice acting is so great and perfect, and this movie just looked like a ton of fun to make. Many laughs were had!

⭐ 8.5/10 (Originally written by Beans) R&B Tori is finally here! I read a tweet a long time ago that said something like, if she would stop making campfire songs she’d be one of the biggest pop stars out there and it’s so true. She has one of the nicest voices I’ve ever heard and almost every day she goes viral for her riffs. She’s done a bunch of random stuff till now. Some full length albums, a few EPs, and a gospel album. She has a cover on YouTube of the song So Will I and it’s the most beautiful cover I’ve ever heard. I get emotional every time I listen. This one is produced by Jon Bellion and it’s perfect for her. It has that signature Bellion sound that is incredibly matched with Tori’s voice. This is also an EP, with only 7 songs and 2 features but it rocks. Best track is Shelter but the whole album is worth the listen.