september
TV & Games
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners
So good it made me start playing the game again and wishing the game was that good.
Inscryption
A blast! Short but sweet with exciting twists.
Books
The Sunny Nihilist
Pretty light reading but this matched up nicely with a lot that I’ve been thinking for years.
The Answers
A weird send-up of heterosexual romance, male myopia, and capitalism.
Nona the Ninth
I’m still not sure what I read
Too Like Lightning
At times deeply frustrating, but it doled-out its pleasure at random intervals ensuring I kept reading.
The World of Cycling According to G
Fun stories and info, if a bit disjointed. Definitely came off as a series of anecdotes instead of something like Gaimon’s work.
Unnatural Magic
Not really my thing, but if you like awkward romance fic, this is probably up your alley.
Movies
Irma Vep
Avoided this for a while because I assumed it would be super boring, but instead it’s a fascinating look at a film industry as an absolute mess of characters and mistakes. Cheung is great.
Vesper
I’ll have to rewatch this and let it sink in a bit. Cool world and somewhat Cronenburgian special effects. I want to see these directors do the second and third parts of the Area X trilogy.
Baby Assassins
Solid fight choreography, a silly plot, and a lot of weird humor. Overall it was fun!
Inside Lleweyn Davis
Imagine if folk music had been big in the 90s instead of boy bands, and Timberlake was just a singer-songwriter. Also I hope Goodman got an Oscar for his whole thing, but especially his hair.
Hunger
Brutal. Incredible performances. Close all prisons.
Loneliest Planet
Much much slower and less satisfying Force Majeure.
Avatar
I forgot how long this movie was. It’s still a strange 3D fern gully and I can’t believe it’s getting sequels, but I guess I’ll see them so maybe it all makes sense.
Watcher
Top tip: don’t gaslight your girlfriend. The dark side of Lost in Translation.
Ghost World
This captures the teen angst and too cool vibes of the late 1990s pretty well. Buscemi is great and creepy.
Lou
Pretty fun if straightforward. West Wing John Wick. The third act dragged a bit.
Icarus
An incredible documentary on the decades-long doping program in Russia and the scientist who blew the whistle on it. With PEDs still casting a shadow over my favorite sport this was fascinating and sad.
Freaks
A surprisingly interesting sci-fi jam.
Anima
Thom Yorke doing a Mr. Bean meets Brazil.
The Toll
A funny low-end gangster and cop film set in a tiny bit of Wales. I think I looked this up because of the main actress for Feast, and she was solid in The Toll too.
Panic Room
Baby Kristen Stewart! Maybe one of the only movies with mother and daughter both played by lesbians? The first time I saw this was a very shitty SD copy on an old non-LCD monitor and I couldn’t really see what was happening. This time was better.
誰がために
A sad story on how to grieve and not moving on.
Role Models
Wild how a movie with at least one actor who sexually assaulted women has a different character who aged even more poorly. Bits of this were pretty funny but it’s pretty fucked these guys didn’t think “hey what if we worked with more women”?
The American
We’re either too loud or we’re international assassins on the run…
Captain Philips
Great time with Hanks but also even as a “based on a true story” this is hilariously bad economics… how many millions of dollars does it cost to float around in fancy boats doing night ops?
Goodnight, Mommy
Haunting and fascinating.
Confess, Fletch
As a kid I really loved the Chevy Chase Fletch movies but don’t know if they would hold up, but this ruled. Hamm found a perfect role.
The Invitation
I don’t even have misophonia and the nail bits were horrible. I was just complaining about the fanfic-ification of entertainment recently and this is a prime example of the goofy weird romance stuff that leads to. The twist is pretty obviously telegraphed and not much of a payoff, but I kept hoping it’d be a Cthulhu thing maybe? I hope Emmanuel gets better roles next.
Emily the Criminal
Didn’t know what to expect but I had a great time.
Breaking
Depressing! An empathetic tale of how poorly the US treats its citizens.
Haunting and still amazing.
The Spy Who Loved Me
Do you think the goons in red have a less obvious costume for when they’re not in the sea base? After rewatching Casino Royale I remembered that Bond can be awesome, but this is merely better than the other Moore films.
Thor: Love & Thunder
G&R songs are better when they’re covered. This was fun enough with some neat fights but I wanted more god butchering.
Fall
Lee Pace would’ve been good in this one too. I love a weird outdoor accidents film, especially when it has two rad women as the protagonists. I really hate heights.
Videodrome
I forgot how most of the plot of this movie is Woods’ obsession with finding good porn. Long live the new flesh.
Man with a Golden Gun
For such a classic Bond film, it’s embarrassingly goofy and holds up poorly.
Bullet Train
Imagine if Patriot and Survive Style 5+ was a bit more broad but ideal for a few beers and a cartoon antic time.