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⭐ 9.5/10 This review has been a long time coming. I started this game probably a year and a half ago, having never played a Dark Souls game.  I always thought they looked kind of dull and lifeless, boring colour palette and rage-inducing gameplay.  This is the Dark Souls to end all Dark Souls, and it was getting universal appeal, so I had to try it.  Not breaking any news here, but this game is amazing. I think what it does best is the environment.  The world you are in is so massive and detailed, with an insane array of things to fight.  The storytelling is complete gibberish, but that doesn't matter when the world is full of so much life that your brain is basically making up story as you play.  Made me feel like a child again, uncovering new things around every turn, along with the immense satisfaction of beating such difficult bosses. No boss really sticks out in my mind as one that took forever. Actually nevermind it was Malekith and when I won it fel...

⭐ 10/10 My second review of this movie for this site.  Last time it was a 9.5 out of 10 that I wrote shortly after leaving the theatre.  I hedged a bit, didn't want to be too bold, but this is a 10/10 masterpiece.  This movie is long and starts very methodically, and I was nervously looking over at Jess to try and glean what she was feeling.  I sensed boredom, maybe thinking this is a pretentious movie.  When we took a break to grab snacks I was relieved to hear her say she loved it, and a lot of the things she loved reflected what I remembered so well.  The level of detail in this movie is so high, and the character Cate Blanchett plays is so particular.  Within minutes you feel like you understand this person completely, and this is a testament to the acting and the movie making.  The amount of detail and care is reflected in Tar's personality, and every clothing choice, every furnished room, it all makes perfect sense that she is that person i...

⭐ 7/10 And I'm on the final series of The Realm of the Elderlings!  Unfortunately I think this was easily the worst entry out of the 14 (!!) I have read.  It started well, with some big time jumps as we reconnect with former characters.  I thought the ending these characters had in their last series was perfection, so it pained me for old wounds and new conflicts to pop back up, but why not. This book is way too long.  I was delighted to see a map at the start of the book, a map of one specific place.  And then I realized its so small and detailed because the entire 700 pages take place in this one location.  Pretty annoying, and the middle chunk of this book was a bit of a slog.  I love the characters, and I love the one new viewpoint character in this new book, a breath of fresh air for the series.  Lots of new mysteries and unanswered questions from previous books. There is also maybe one of the saddest deaths I have read before, hit me in a w...

⭐ 8.5/10 Funny story I watched this movie when it came out but stopped because the violence in the beginning was too much for me.  Well I'm fully desensitized now and I thought this was great! Time travel can be tricky, but this movie is pretty light on its feet, using it in clever ways that don't have you hung up on causality or butterfly effects or whatever. I think what this movie does best is set a believable atmosphere on what appears to be a small budget. The weapons they use, the way the vehicles look, everything is intentional in a way all great sci-fi movies nail. Speaking of budget, why waste so much of it on whatever they did to JGL's face to make him look like Bruce Willis.  Completely unnecessary, just tell me he's his younger version, I'll believe it. I was surprised with the direction this movie took, kind of becomes a drama around whether or not you would kill baby-Hitler if you could time travel.  There is a super effective scene with Bruce Willis ...

⭐6/10 This is a 90s sci-fi about Bruce Willis getting sent back in time to try and gather evidence for an upcoming apocalypse. However, as he tries to tell people about it, everyone things he's crazy and so he's locked up in a psych ward. I actually love that premise - what would it look like if you had to convince people you're from the future? It also has some interesting thoughts on mental institutions, and how we treat people we think are crazy, medicating them to the point of dysfunction.  Still, this movie didn't really work for me. First, I hate time travel. While this had some interesting ideas, I still just think it doesn't work. Second, I didn't really understand Willis's character. The whole idea is that he's kinda insane and unable to communicate, but it's unclear why that is. Time travel is clearly hard on the brain, and also he's medicated, and also he grew up in a post-apocolyptic world so maybe he's just socialized...

⭐ 9/10 This is a super, super weird horror/comedy by Taika Waititi and friends. It's all about a group of vampires and their day-to-day lives in modern New Zealand. It is the most ridiculous movie I have ever seen, with some of the most shocking laughs. It is not for the faint of heart, but few movies have made me laugh like this.  It's hard to explain without giving away the joke. It is definitely a super uncomfortable movie at times, but yeah, extremely dark comedy that kinda parodies some of the silly stuff out culture celebrates. It felt a bit like American Psycho in a way, but this is far more ridiculous and so the dark moments stand out more.  It's short, it's outrageous, and it's hard to recommend. But it's the perfect Halloween movie if you want those vibes, and while it's definitely "scary" in some ways, the makes the comic relief that much better. Taika himself is the clear mvp - he makes this movie (literally). 

⭐9.5/10 This book is subtitled "Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-Earth." It's all about the making of the LOTR films, but also a sort of biography about Jackson. I just read a similar book about Lucas and Star Wars, but this one goes into a lot more detail on just the years 1997-2003, which takes up probably 80% of this book.  I absolutely loved it. I watched all the dvd special features more than once as a kid, so I know the behind-the-scenes very well. Still, I feel like having a writer craft a narrative from all of this helps put it all in perspective. There were also plenty of stories I had never heard, and it just adds to the mythos of all of this.  I guess one main takeaway was just how revolutionary all of this was. We take it for granted, but CGI simply wasn't this good back when these movies were being made. We never had a character like Gollum, and honestly have not had much that's as impressive as him since. And Weta was basically inve...

⭐7.5/10 This is a newish movie about Glen Powell having to pretend to be a hitman in order to lure would-be clients into admitting they want someone dead. He's a huge nerd in his real life, so it's a pretty good contrast, and then of course he gets involved in things way beyond him and chaos ensues. It's a pretty great premise honestly. The movie is from Linklater, who I like a lot, and you can see his signature style here and there, though this is pretty different than most of his movies.  I liked it. I'm pretty damn tired of seeing Glen Powell's face, who is just in everything these days, but he's pretty good here. He is pretty convincing as a nerd, other than all the times where he inevitably has to pull off his shirt. This movie is all about him playing different characters, and he shows a pretty good range.  His romantic counterpart, Adria Arjona, who I know from Andor, is one of the sexiest people alive, and this is a very sexy role. Still, I f...

⭐ 8/10 This show mostly remains the same as ever. There are a few small changes happening, namely that Manny and Luke are both super unfunny now. But this show is still good and I can't complain. I really love Andy and I'm glad he got a bit more screentime. Otherwise I'm struggling to think of any highlights... There are not a ton. This show is a super consistent 8. Nothing will have you dying, but you will laugh every minute, every episode.  I thought it was cool that they tried something unique exactly one time with the laptop episode. And I thought it was good! And still I admit I was just waiting for it to go back to normal. I am the problem! I truly can't believe that we're only halfway thru this show...

⭐ 7.5/10 This movie had been on my watchlist for a while and only now, with a new Alien movie coming out, did I realize this was part of that universe. I liked Alien, and even watched the second one, but I had no idea that this movie franchise was so huge. There's a million of these!  I liked this one pretty well. It sticks to the formula pretty hard, and that's mostly fine, but I do feel like these movies are trying to one-up each other with the shock value. One of the things I loved about the original was that it was pretty balanced. It has this hyper-realism, so when things start going crazy, you really feel it. There are gross parts, and they are shocking precisely because they are so few. In this movie, there are several super disgusting scenes. I like disgusting stuff! But this felt like a little much.  They also seem to want to explain Alien universe lore a little too much. Again, going back to the original, it's all very mysterious and vague. You don...

⭐ 8/10 You know what, I didn't hate this movie.  In fact, I dare say I enjoyed it!  The premise is silly and it has its fair share of corniness, but gosh darn it I just buy Anne Hathaway as an actress! I thought her and the guy had good chemistry, and I thought that boy band stuff was admirably accurate.  They sound so much like One Direction, and the moments we get to spend with the band and their quick exchanges tell you a lot. This might be an expectations thing, because I was expecting to despise this.  But the writing wasn't terrible, and although it wasn't completely unexpected it didn't hit the classic beats I thought it would.  The music is catchy, the relationship steamy, and the ex-husband is a guy from Veep that I like! The worst line in the movie is when she is showing him art. She shows him her favourite painting, and he says, "what do you feel in this piece".  Gross. She takes a beat, and responds, "Everything".  Now that right there sh...

⭐ 8.5/10 On the downswing but still lots to love.  This season does include the wedding, which is fine, and also Michael dating Pam's mom, which is great.  I liked the arc at the end where Michael is hooking up with a married woman and doesn't feel bad about it, although why any of these women fall for him is beyond me.  That arc starts with the Date Mike episode, which is one of my favourite characters of his. We also see the introduction of Sabre here, and the "Party in the USA" song with the mispronounced Sabre is such a funny joke to me. For the most part I don't like Jo, but with Jo comes Gabe, who I love dearly.  Everything that guy says and does is hilarious. This season I really noticed the Andy level up, and it feels like he is in more of the major story lines.  Pretty sure this aligned with the smash hit that was The Hangover, but this means putting our boy Jim on the back burner!  He doesn't get any funny lines, he is kind of mean to Dwight, and...

⭐7.5/10 This is a movie that takes place in the TBCU (The Bear cinematic universe) in which Jon Favreau is a curmudgeon chef who's life starts falling apart. Honestly, my main takeaway was that he was married to Sofia Vergara, got divorced, and is now with Scarlett Johansson?? Is this a fantasy movie?? I'm sorry, but Jon Favreau is an awful person in this movie, and his looks aren't doing him any favours... What's going on here?!  That aside, this movie is pretty good. There's some family reclamation stuff, some stuff about living for what matters, doing what you love, all that. But the main thing is the food looks incredible and I'm a known lover of cooking videos. This was a long version of those.  I had a few little nitpicks, like the tone being weird (it has some dark humour, but also has a fairytale ending) and this also made 2014 feel like decades ago. But whatever. This is a good movie, and probably one everyone would like. It's quite simi...

⭐10/10 This is the entry for the TV miniseries which came out shortly after the novel. It too won it's share of accolades and is celebrated as some of the best the genre has to offer. It has a loaded cast and was clearly working with a pretty significant budget. Indeed, similar to The Lord of the Rings, I think a lot of people's entry into this story was the adaptation, but like good adaptations, I think both versions help you appreciate the other.  Admittedly, to start, I did not think the tv show was anywhere really close to the novel. I thought all of the shortcomings of the medium were there, where you don't really get into the head of the characters, which is super important for a story that's as light on plot as this one. As a result, all of the characters seemed a little flimsy, especially characters like Lorena who has all of her depth removed when you don't get to know her thoughts. The few actions shots felt a little cheesy because this was fil...

⭐ 7/10 No idea how I came across this one. I'd never heard of it until the day I watched it, but everyone on the internet was saying this was the one. How can you pretend to like movies if you haven't watched it? So I put my massive backlog aside to watch this Korean noir thriller. It has this pretty interesting premise. This guy finds himself in a hotel room that is actually a prison, and he has no idea why or for how long, and he has zero human contact. But then, after 15 years, he's set free to try and pick up the pieces. He's hungry, and revenge is on the menu!! So the whole movies is watching him try to figure out who imprisoned him, and why.  I guess my biggest difficulty with this one is not really knowing how to watch Korean movies, especially ones made in 2002 which are further afield from Hollywood than they are today. Honestly, much of this felt like a noir parody, like something made my Michael Scott or Homestar Runner. It's super dramatic an...

I was on summer break all of July, so I read a LOT. There were about four days in a row when I was doing puzzles almost all day, and ended up going through more than one audiobook a day!  Here are my favourites: This was surprisingly my first book by Georgette Heyer, who is a historical romance legend. It was written in the 50s, and it was a delight! While  technically a histrom, I feel like it's more a comedy than anything, with a fake engagement that is the slowest of burns - just how I like them! It's full of shenanigans and silliness, and the writing has that charm that I rarely see outside of classics. I'll definitely be reading more by Heyer. My favourite non-fiction book of the month. I read this primarily because July was Disability Pride Month, but I'm glad I did. The author starts by saying people need to change their perceptions of disabled people, and I have to say, I was challenged right away! I've read quite a few books on disability theory, but I sti...

⭐5/10 Whew boy, this movie is rough. Beans told me this movie was bad, and I didn't believe him. He may give 10s to everything, but if he says something negative, you best believe that movie is hot garbage.  The reason I wanted to give this movie a chance is because it's made by Gareth Edwards, who made Godzilla, one of my favorite movies, and this movie delivers on all the visual hopes I had. It's beautiful. One of the better movies I've seen in that regard. There are a lot of cool, unique, futuristic designs and set pieces. Really creative ideas, and the audio was amazing. And it did it all on a low(ish) budget. Good for Gareth!  But he also wrote the script, and the script is absolutely horrendous. Truly terrible writing. The worst part is Alphie, the generic hope-for-the-future little girl that wins over the rugged, heartless protector. The lines that come out of this girl's mouth will having your eyes ROLLING. This is the clumsiest attempt at robot ...

⭐7/10 We waited 2 years for this??  I have been defending this show all season long. No, it's not quite as dynamic as peak Thrones, but it has its own strengths and I consider this show to be the closest thing we have to appointment viewing. I've also felt it's held to an impossible standard. It has a huge budget, and it does a lot right with the settings, costumes, writing, acting, etc.  After the finale, I found this show hard to defend. Every episode felt like it was setting up a huge confrontation. There was a lot of positioning all season long. Meetings, hushed conversations, posturing, strategizing. In fact, it did this to a fault and it got completely formulaic, something Thrones never did; 50 minutes of setup, then hopefully ten minutes of conflict at the end. Except then the conflict stopped happening, and it was all setup. But that's okay, because the finale will pay it all off... Right?  I don't consider it a spoiler to say that there simply w...

⭐ 9/10 This is a book about the creation of Star Wars. While we watched the movies earlier this summer, I remember thinking that it was odd to have a movie turn into this absolutely massive IP without any source material behind it, and wanted to know about how it all came together. This book was exactly the answer to all my questions and I'm glad I found it.  This book is in large part a biography for George Lucas, and he makes a pretty great main character. He seems like a genuinely nice guy who wanted to make good movies that people could enjoy. He's exceedingly normal in a field full of eccentric creatives. Even as a billionaire, he seemed to keep this sense of groundedness. Definitely an easy guy to cheer for.  The story about how all of this came together is electric to read about. How unlikely it all was, how nobody expected it to be good (including Lucas), how they nearly ran out of money a million times and nearly scraped the project, or even how Harrison F...

⭐ 8/10 This show has always been in the good-not-great category for me, but I was happy to return for a shortened third season.  Felt similar to the second season, where I think it kind of found itself, and its a shame that the writer's strike made a show hitting its prime have to cut a bunch of episodes.  This season was more of the same, which is good.  I missed Tariq, and every time he shows up its the funniest.  The show is trying really hard to make Mr. Johnson funny, the old crazy guy with a wild past and silly jokes, the Creed if you will.  He is very not funny and I wish they would stop trying so hard. Much like The Office I think a lot of the plot and power of each episode comes from the chemistry in the workplace romance.  Quinta has really grown on me, and I loved Everybody Hates Chris as a kid so seeing that little boy grown up as Gregory is great. They have believable dynamics, and you just want them to get together so badly.  The Office k...

⭐ 7.5/10 These early 2000 comedies can be tough to watch, not only because lots of the language is completely disallowed now, but because so much of it is funny because it was funny when you saw it the first time.  I was already a man the first time I saw this, and I think a bunch of the dialogue is really hilarious.  Where the movie looses me is when it gets into physical comedy - them fighting or sleep walking.  But still, I think this movie is a gem of the raunchy comedies of those times, and it still makes me laugh. The concept is great, and the poster is iconic. Both these stunted man-children are so ridiculous and so stupid its hard not to laugh. For me the standout is always Adam Scott - he is so hateable in this movie and every scene he is in kills me.  The car singing, the treehouse abs, the bragging at the table, just perfectly written and performed to make you want to punch him. Dane Cook, pay-per-view, 10 minues, LET'S GO! I think my favourite line is in...

⭐ 10/10 I was trying to find something quick to watch with my lunch on the weekend, and whoops I watched this whole movie.  One of my all time favourites, this one never gets old.  It is so tightly made, so well performed, its intense but also an easy watch for me.  I'm not sure why I have watched this movie so many times, since the language is jarring every time and its basically about a kid being abused. Its just so compelling and so well made. Its interesting to watch something like this with all of Chazelle's work in mind, because its all kind of about the same thing.  Someone wants to be great, at all costs.  In this one Andrew says it straight up, doesn't want to be great, wants to be one of the greats.  He is arrogant and rude to those around him, but something about his drive and ambition makes you root for him!  Fletcher is an amazing villain, but he also tells you what he wants - he wants to foster greatness!  The final scene, them push...

⭐ 8/10 This score is probably inflated because of all the trash TV the Star Wars universe has pumped out, but I enjoyed this show!  I thought it started slow, but I was intrigued with the direction it took.  Mainly, they are giving us something new!  We aren't retreading the same story they have told 100 times.  This one is about a pair of twins with magical origins and their journies with the force.  It does a great job being critical with the Jedi order, and most importantly I think it has a great villain!  He is scary and powerful and has a point of view you can empathize with. The acting is a bit stiff at times, but I thought the lead who plays two parts was good, genuinely playing two different characters.  I thought the Squid Game guy was solid, but why not let him speak in his native tongue?  This is a massive universe with characters that speak tons of fake languages. I thought the middle episodes were the best here, pretty dark and excit...