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⭐10/10 I'd seen this one a time or two, but it had been a few years and I was hazy on the details. I was a little worried that it maybe wasn't as good as I remembered, but no, this is a true masterpiece and the ultimate Christmas movie for a reason. A few spoilers ahead for this 80 year old movie.  My initial thought was that the setup is completely different than what I remembered. For the ninety minutes, there is no hint that this is a Christmas movie. I thought this was about half setup, and then the angel comes in for the second half, but it really is only about the final 30 minutes. Up until then, it's this incredibly compelling story of James Bailey having all the potential in the world, but life gets in the way and he is forced to watch as all his friends and family surpass him. I think the reason this works so well is that James Stewart is actually incredibly likeable in this role. You root for him to succeed, but he tries to do the right thing, and even...

⭐4/10 I really didn't enjoy this one. It's about Leonardo DiCaprio as an actor who's star is fading in 50s Hollywood, as well as Brad Pitt as his stuntman and they... I dunno, don't do much. Margot Robbie is also in this movie and she... well I guess she also doesn't do anything either. It's certainly not a plot-driven movie, and that's fine except I think that really doesn't mesh well with Tarantino's signature style, and he really can't go away from his style.  Speaking of Tarantino, it's very hard to seperate him from my opinion of this movie. He's about as cancelled as someone can be without actually being found guilty of something, and all the yucky hallmarks were super present here. Lots of women being hot and over-sexualized, lots of gratuitous violence, lots of gratuitous violence towards over-sexualized women. I don't think I would have enjoyed all the icky stuff in this movie under any circumstances, but after th...

⭐ 7/10 It's only worth seeing these movies in theatres, but if you saw 2 you have seen this one as well. 2 was a rerun of 1 in almost every sense, but in this one they reused the entire second half of the last one, in many cases I thought I was getting dejavu with the exact same battle scene. It was a real disappointment. This movie looks great, of course. Marvel dreams of a world where they could spend this long on their movies and make them not look like absolute garbage. Its impressive how transporting this is, it doesn't really feel like a fantasy world, it actually looks like a different planet. Everyone knows this, but its all I can think about while watching, since the story is certainly not going to blow you away. The dialogue is trash, the kids still all say "bro" and "cuz", and Jake is a bad dad. I will say I thought the first half of this movie was excellent. There is a stunning battle in the first third that blew me away, which is then followed ...

⭐ 8/10 This game was not helped by the fact that I played it a single day, then played Silksong followed by Hades 2 in their entirety before returning to it. It took my a long time to get into this game. I found the first couple worlds kind of boring, and it was only in the back half that it felt like things got interesting. This is an insane collectathon, with so much stuff to find as you pummel your way through everything. Breath of the Wild is perfect with its openness, Mario Odyssey is open but with tons to do and find, and then this is the extreme end of this scale, with so much stuff crammed in with no room to breathe. It suffers because of it, with discoveries becoming completely predictable. Nothing is really hiding with your little sonar pound move, which I actually love and makes 100%ing a game like this do-able without much internet assistance. Even without the internet you can pay to get pins on your map for fossils or bananas, so I do appreciate how completionist friendly...

⭐9/10 This is the movie for the book I just reviewed as I went through them concurrently. I actually watched this one years ago, closer to when it came out, and although some images have haunted me all these years, I can't say it had the effect then that it has now.  I mean, that's the beauty of having a story told via different mediums, both versions helping to enhance the other. I won't do the same long spiel here, but all those thoughts about bleakness and overcoming dread were true here. However, I do think the movie was different than the book in that there seems to be a bit more hope. This movie has a haunting beauty throughout, something I didn't think was necessarily present in the book, mostly because the movie adds beautiful music throughout.  In fact, I would say there is far more of an emotional range in the movie. McCarthy's writing style is quite understated, and so the drama of seeing half eaten corpses is far more visceral when given a vi...

⭐9/10 This is an ultra bleak, ultra dark book written by one of history's bleakest, darkest writers. It's about an unnamed man and his young son traversing post-apocalyptic America for some vague notion of a better life down south. There are precious few moments of levity or hope right until the somewhat ambiguous ending, and is mostly a description of the man grappling with not only his own suffering, but watching his son go through it as well.  I don't know why, but for a book that has essentially no happiness, I found it quite readable. There is nothing but horrific images, and yet I couldn't stop flipping the pages. I think a major quality to the book's credit is that you know the author isn't going to hold back, and so every encounter has real stakes. Whether it's facing off against cannibalistic bandits or simply not having any food, you want to know what happens because there is no free passes for our protagonists.  I thought the world tha...

⭐8.5/10 I'm a big fan of these and will watch anything Rian Johnson wants to make. It's kinda the quintessential Netflix movie: sharp writing, entertaining, a little modern moralizing, looks good not great, and you'll love your time watching it but forget about it in a week. Nothing wrong with that!  Like Tim mentioned, this one has faith at the center, and I do like that this topic is being tackled my modern voices in interesting ways. This is the second movie I've watched this year with a good-hearted priest as the protagonist, and it's a trend I can get behind. It beats the assumption that priests are pedophiles or homophobes, though this movie makes clear that there is certainly plenty of those too. All of this is to say that I liked the non-mystery elements of this movie. There were lots of great and interesting characters, led by Josh O'Connor, and some genuinely touching moments.  The mystery wasn't bad either. I think Rian Johnson...

⭐8/10 I'm not sure if this is worth reviewing because it's only thirty minutes and a beloved classic. But I'd never seen it before! So it was a nice little treat with some cute lines and terrific music. I love seeing what kids movies were like sixty years ago. A ton of this is stuff no kid would ever understand, so lots for the adults.  Yeah, it's classic, it's charming, it's worth thirty minutes. Somebody needs to put down that dirty child tho. He is suffering. 

⭐2/10 We are STRUGGLING to find any Christmas movies that aren't terrible this year.  If this movie wasn't made in 2019, you'd be convinced it was written by AI. You have never seen a more generic, cliche romcom in your life. The writing is truly awful. It must have been written by someone who has only watched movies and has never had a real human interaction in their life. It is actually crazy that this was made within the last decade because it feels distinctly like a corny 80s movie, complete by the fact that it's clearly written by an old white guy fantasizing about his 20s. It's a small movie that nobody watched, so I had low standards, but yeesh.  It's about... you know what, who cares. A pretty girl likes a boy, and for a moment you can get behind the romance but only because they are young and attractive. But it takes a bunch of lame, eye-rolling turns and we stopped with about 30 minutes left.  But I still looked at the Wiki! Here's the ...

⭐7.5/10 Tim Robinson has that unique quality where everything he says is funny to me. Just look at that face - in fact he's already funny before he says anything. I am a huge fan and will always check out his stuff.  Many of my thoughts are similar to Tim's. I love ITYSL, but also only laugh at around half the skits, and am stoneface silent at the other half. But the funny half really hits! I cry-laugh at half the jokes. I'm not sure there are higher highs in comedy for me.   I thought this show was actually kinda the opposite where it is consistently funny, but only moderately. It is safer throughout, and so while there are fewer bits where I'm just waiting for it to end, I'm also less likely to be curled up and unable to breathe.  This show is about Tim Robinson discovering a vast conspiracy about a chair company, but it really plays out as a parody of some espionage thriller. I thought that especially the early episodes were the best where it seems li...

⭐ 9/10 This movie has been on my list ever since it came out, but I always knew it was a tough watch. The perfect time presented itself and I dove in. This is about two Jesuit priests, Adam Driver and Andrew Garfield, searching for an older priest and mentor, Liam Neeson, who has gone missing in Japan. Japan at this time mercilessly persecuted Christians, so they are going to find out what happened to him, but also in fear that he potentially renounced his faith, something they don't believe he could possibly do. This movie is beautiful, two priests living as hiding hermits as they preach to smaller villages that are desperate for what they have to offer. They inevitably get caught, and then Andrew Garfield is the main character, as he witness the true pain that people go through for their belief, and his own resolve is shaken. There is pain and torture, but set starkly against stunning vistas and painterly framing. The imagery is clearly meant to evoke Christ, even blatantly show...

⭐ 9/10 I was a bit more negative on the last one in the series, but my goodness what a delight it is to have another one of these movies. Clever, lots of wit in the writing, thematically relevant, mysteries that keep you completely engaged through the whole runtime. From the opening scene I could feel my mind working in a way I love, not really crafting theories but trying to remember names and details since everything is important and will pay off later. I've realized a lot of the things I watch are kind of punishing, so its such a treat to have something so fun and engaging. Where the last one was about rich people during Covid, which didn't really interest me, this one is about faith! I was also surprised at how this movie used its big cast of stars. In the past it has felt really balanced, with Benoit Blanc as the main character (at least that's how I remember it). This one is Josh O'Connor's movie, and I love this guy! He's helping investigate, is also a s...

⭐ 9/10 Honestly a lot of these episodes I'm across the room doing something else while my son is distracted, but there were a couple episodes that really stood out. This show is about parents and kids being playful and imaginative, its funny and not over stimulating, and my son loves it, so its perfect. He also knows that his allotment is exactly 3 episodes, which is around 20 minutes, so its a perfect length to calm him down or give us time to do a chore. In season 1 there was an episode about the dad taking the kids to get takeout food, the food taking longer than expected, the kids getting into trouble because of how curious they are, and the dad ending up embracing it. That was the best episode, the one that made me tear up, the one I think about all the time. In this season there is an episode that had me and Jess completely crying, called Baby Race. It's the mom recounting when Bluey was growing up, how proud she was of certain milestones, but how easy it was to try to ru...

⭐7.5/10 We went back to the early days of this show, but not toooooo early because the first seasons are pretty odd. This season is mostly normal, and I won't bore with too many details, but it's interesting to see how far it's come in the last decade.  First off, this show's main character, Paul Hollywood, is pretty different. Outside of perfecting the Hollywood look, he's also meaner in this season, more serious, harsher when it comes to criticism. He's no Gordon Ramsey, but he gives only one Hollywood Handshake all season! I've seen him give 3 handshakes in just one challenge in recent seasons! Old Hollywood has gone soft!  It was also interesting seeing how flavours and trends have changed over the years. This is all chocolate and strawberry and lemon. Not one mention of cardamom or elderflower here! I really do think the contestants are more talented and creative in recent years.  So that's it. Always a fun, comforting watch, but the for...

⭐4/10 "Imagine yammy-ing in my sister's handbag!" This movie is bad. There are some genuine laughs sprinkled in, but they are entirely by minor characters. The main cast is terrible, all a bunch of annoying people who never redeem themselves. Tough watch. 

⭐ 8.5/10 In this movie Joel Edgerton is a brooding guy who cuts down trees and is lonely and sad, except when he gets precious moments with his wife and kid. That, plus the beautiful cinematography, are all you need for this to be a great movie. It looks stunning, and every time a tree came down it looked more beautiful than the last time. I thought the first 45 minutes or so were perfect, this hard man living a hard life trying to build a family. It had me thinking of There Will Be Blood, a depiction of the blooming of American industry, but this being forestry instead of oil. Where Daniel Plainview 100% capitalist,  Edgerton's character is just working to provide for his family. There is a sadness in the way these trees come down, although it might be me reflecting his mood over it. There is this poignant scene where he is on a train many years later, and he goes past one of the railways he helped to build that is no longer in use, and that was the feeling this movie left me wit...

⭐ 8/10 I rewatched ITYSL season 1 recently, and while I have hilarious memories of that show I would say the hit rate is actually probably like 40%. This is true of Friendship as well, which is similar to this in a lot of ways. Some moments where I laugh as hard as I ever have, but then the rest is just absurdity. It feels like him and Nathan Fielder are moving in similar directions, but with Fielder tackling modern loneliness and Robinson always embodying this intense male rage across his shows. The setup for this show is great, and I love the conspiracy thriller aspects. There were several episodes where I felt completely lost, but then he has a conversation with his daughter about Wendy's new Carvers line of sandwiches and I was dying laughing again. This felt all over the map, but the best moments were all little ITYSL sketches. He's got a way of saying things in a way no human ever would, and its those little jolts that kept me going. I also love how everyone in the show ...

⭐ 7/10 This is a kids movie that follows the Christmas story from the POV of a bunch of animals. Cute concept, but nothing really memorable in this aside from the insanely stacked voice cast. Ezra liked it and has asked to watch it again, which is the first time that has happened with any movie, so that's something. A bit weird that their needs to be a villain in this, some great big Roman guard, could have just been a nice Nativity story from a different angle. Whatever, silly to even put a score on this. Not a classic by any means, but it gets points for having a fun premise. 

⭐10/10 I've had this movie on my radar for quite some time, but it's hard to pull the trigger on a 50 year old movie that's hard to find, and even harder to find someone who's actually watched it. Well I'm really glad I did.  The mythology behind this movie is something. It's nearly all shot during the golden hour, filmed for about 20 minutes per day to capture that. The cinematographer was going blind as he filmed it.  The editing took several years... It was clearly a labour of love, and it clearly paid off. This movie is absolutely stunning. Because it was recorded on film, and is a 1910s period piece filmed in the 70s, this feels like a movie that couldn't be made today.  This movie is about Richard Geer, who I randomly saw in a movie a few weeks ago for the first time, as a steel worker in Chicago who accidentally kills someone and so he, his girlfriend and sister flee to Texas to build a new life. There are certainly interesting, even drama...

This book blew me away, and that was after I already loved The Six Deaths of the Saint, the short story she wrote that inspired her to turn it into a full novel. Owen is a scholar of Dominion who studies the mythology of Saint Una Everlasting. He suddenly gets sent into the past to meet her and record her story, so he journeys with her to find the grail, knowing that in the end she will be betrayed. The central relationship in this book is gorgeous, filled with yearning and devotion. All of the characters and relationships are so rich, with fascinating character arcs. But I was equally entranced by what it was saying about mythology, nationalism, and empire. In my opinion, Harrow is just getting better and better.   This is what to read if you want a book about a magical school with dragons that is actually good and cares about its world-building. In an alternate version of our world, Anequs is a young Indigenous woman living happily on her island when a dragon lays an egg and the ...