Category: Movies

  • Recent Media Stuff

    Hover over or tap on each thumbnail to read about my experience. (Scroll for longer text).

    Pokémon Legends Z-A
    Pokémon Legends Z-A Video Game

    Feels a little more restrictive than Legends Arceus, but has enough of that Legends brain-tickling that had me sinking nearly 70 hours into it by the time I finished the story. Will be fun to revisit for the occasional shiny hunt.

    Wicked For Good movie poster
    Wicked: For Good Movie

    I’m high-key sick of the lazy criticism “they adapted the weaker part of a two part musical, so this is a big disappointment.” I don’t think you can lavish praise on the first part and completely dismiss Jon Chu’s approach to getting into the headspace of the lead actresses. Just admit you got swept up in marketing and now part of you regrets buying in. (I liked this one better than Part 1).

    Frankenstein movie poster
    Frankenstein Movie

    Some people say this movie lacks subtext and is too obsessed with humanizing the monster. I say, Guillermo should have occasionally interspersed clips of Sam Altman over Oscar Isaac’s face to really drive the point home.

    Hades II game cover
    Hades II Video Game

    I already have the feeling that this will be impossible for me to beat, which is part of what made getting a good “ending” in the first Hades very satisfying.

    Scream VI movie poster
    Scream franchise Movie

    I have Paramount Plus because of Survivor, so the algorithm started recommending these movies to me around Halloween. I binged them over a weekish period and was surprising hooked by Scream 4 and the reboot movies. I do think the meta references broke the tension too much in the second and third movies, but Wes Craven probably peaked with the fourth one before he passed away.

    Disco Elysium
    Disco Elysium Video Game

    Replayed coming off of my Blue Prince and E33 binges. Still among the best writing in the video game medium.

    Chain Gang All-Stars
    Chain Gang All-Stars Book

    One of my bedtime reads. Compelling premise and some engrossing writing, but I’ve lost focus with the multiple perspective shifts and extremely dense world building.

    Mexican Gothic
    Mexican Gothic Book

    Finished this for book club. Kara asked if it lived up to the hype and in some ways it did not, but in many ways it was exactly the right book for a stressful spooky season. Fast-paced, cinematic, and with enough social commentary to make it worth reflecting on, I’m glad we did it.

    Character Limit
    Character Limit Book

    My main audiobook for drives. Hate to expose myself too much to Elon’s insanity, but it is satisfying to know he’s been a drooling troll every step of the way.

    The Satanic Verses
    The Satanic Verses Book

    Our September book club pick. I thought I’d gotten in over my skis at first, but it ended up being a pretty memorable and satisfying read.

    The Life of a Showgirl
    The Life of a Showgirl Album

    Only gave it the one listen-through and I landed on the side of people who gave it a side-eye for all the 180 pivot from celebrating her independence. But Erin has given me a lot of reasons why I should listen again.

    Pokemon Crystal
    Pokemon Crystal Video Game

    This is not my peak Pokemon year, but I am like…three Pokedex entries away from fulfilling my childhood ambition of getting that certificate for the original 150 dex entries. Every now and then I use Crystal to level up the last remaining ‘Mon. Right now, ALL THAT’S LEFT is evolving Kabuto into Kabutops – I’m at Fuschia Gym in the post-game.

    Blue Prince
    Blue Prince Video Game

    Contender for my Game of the Year. I’ve heard people turn on it as a time-waster, but I was happy to go as far as I did before the overall puzzle got too dense.

    Papers Please
    Papers Please Video Game

    Finally got around to this classic and the clever way the narrative unfolds with the deceptively engaging gameplay is genius.

    Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade
    Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade Video Game

    Didn’t expect to get sucked into this one, but there was a moment there where any moment not spent working or parenting was in moving my little guys around, making sure they don’t get obliterated.

    Balatro
    Balatro Video Game

    I have learned how to make Balatro not ruin my life. But it was dicey for a while there.

    Hollow Knight: Silksong
    Hollow Knight: Silksong Video Game

    I beat Lace! That might be my last accomplishment with this one, at least for a while.

    Memento
    Memento Movie

    Floating around Free YouTube movies for quite a while. It was fun to revisit and remember how the pieces fit together, although the plot is less airtight than teenage me remembered.

  • A Recent Letterboxd Review

    Superman (2025)
    Read on Letterboxd

    It’s good! Some stray thoughts:

    * David Corensweat nailed it.

    * I’m on board for Gunn kind of reducing the mystique of the billionaire schemer and making Hoult’s Luthor more of his Golden/Silver Age version of a petulant flop. Certainly anyone paying attention over the past ten years would get the sense that this is how Musk or Zuckerberg would behave if anyone got in their face. Still, if there were a bit more done to build up the facade of calm-and-collected Luthor, it would have been all the more effective to see him crash out.

    * A good amount of Daily Planet and Lois Being a Journalist in this, but now I have to grimace at Clark being the world’s most unethical journalist. Also, they did nothing with Cat Grant and the tertiary members of the staff. Without the source material, these characters have no business here. And then there’s the front page with Malik, a shot which would have you accept that Perry White is going to get extremely sentimental and subjective in the weeks following a major disaster for the city. Which brings me to Malik….

    * Part one of the aspects that actually are kind of glaring. The Malik character feels uncomfortably underwritten. Making him a food vendor is already a red flag. And then he gets to have the one human death in a movie that otherwise seems to adhere to the kinder, gentler superhero movie wherein Superman goes out of his way to save a *squirrel.* But Malik is just an avatar for Metropolis and making a person of color hero-worship Superman and then get dispatched as a plot device is probably not the message Gunn thinks he’s telling. Which leads us to Jarhanpur.

    * Yes, absolutely I want to see the story of how Superman handles having the power to save people from war and genocide while trying to hold himself accountable. We take one reasonable step into exploring that and then it becomes, once again, a mere given that Clark’s instincts are 100% correct and that he shouldn’t be confined by the shackles of diplomacy or conflict resolution. It works for a progressive audience in our current context where we’re all sick to our stomachs at what’s being done to the Palestinians. You know who else this would have worked for? People supporting the Iraq War.

    Still, I’m on board for simply saying “I’m sick of dithering while innocent people are trampled like this.” But the payoff? “I’m sending Maxwell Lord’s private goons to do this in my name.” That whole third act, I was like “Okay, they’re layering the parallel conflict tension kind of thick,” but the Justice Gang did not earn the Han Solo payoff they try to give them. As it shakes out, Superman doesn’t even fly into Jarhanpur airspace during the actual events of the movie. That one cool scene happened offscreen.

    * He just straight-up gave Mr. Terrific a Yondu scene.

    Still, a good direction for Superman and the DC Universe overall. If Gunn can give me a Guardians Volume 2 sequel to this, it will probably rocket past the Reeve movies. We’re on a good foundation.