BOOK: Project Hail Mary (2021)

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Project Hail Mary Year: 2021 Author: Andy Weir Length: 476 pages The strength of Andy Weir's hard sci-fi storytelling was evident in The Martian. He sets up a problem, shows us a solution, then does everything in his author-ly power to prevent the main character from achieving that solution. His scientific explanations might get a little dry, but they are necessary to understand the situation without diving too deep into details. While his sophomore effort with Artemis showed me he struggles with writing women, he came back to his roots and knocked it out of the park with Project Hail Mary. There are many similarities between The Martian and Project Hail Mary, which is probably why I like both books equally. Sure, the stakes are higher in Project Hail Mary—with the survival of humanity on the line instead of just one astronaut—but the explanation of the science follows the same format he used in The Martian. Specifically, a problem derails all the progress made so...
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MOVIE: The Batman (2022)

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The Batman Year: 2022 Rating: PG-13 Length: 176 minutes / 2.93 hours I am glad that society has reached the point where every new reboot of a comic book franchise does not require repeatedly rehashing the same origin story. Spider-man: Homecoming (2017) did this, and now The Batman (2022) can join its ranks. It's a good thing, too. At almost three hours long, The Batman takes its time exploring a side of Batman we rarely see: the detective. Perhaps now that he's solved this case, he can figure out where all the lights in Gotham City went? Either way, the aesthetic and style of this Matt Reeves reboot had me skeptical at first, but won me over by the end. After rolling my eyes at yet another reboot of a comic franchise that has seen five reboots since I've been born, I have to admit that this film felt the closest to being realistically feasible. The characters (brilliantly acted by Robert Pattinson, Jeffrey Wright, Colin...
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VIDEO GAME: Pokémon Ultra Moon (2017)

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Pokémon Ultra Moon Year: 2017 Rating: E Time Played: 1,972 minutes / 32.87 hours In each Generation of the Pokémon franchise, the "second set" of games released were often the same game, but with a few notable enhancements. For example, Pokémon Yellow would allow a player to obtain all three of the original starter Pokémon—a feat that would normally take multiple restarts with two cartridges of Red and Blue. When Generation V introduced "sequels" instead of a third enhanced game, these second games lost some of their appeal. Pokémon Ultra Moon carries on this legacy that eventually became the DLC approach we saw in Pokémon Sword. The unfortunate side effect of these sequel games, which feels more evident in Ultra Moon than in previous Generations, is that the first games in a Generation (in this case, Pokémon Sun) feel unfinished. After all, the "Ultra" games came out only a year later, so one wonders why anyone would want to purchase both the original and the...
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MOVIE: Ghostbusters – Afterlife (2021)

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Ghostbusters: Afterlife Year: 2021 Rating: PG-13 Length: 124 minutes / 2.07 hours Hollywood nostalgia is a huge moneymaker for my generation. Movies we grew up loving like Star Wars (1977), Jurassic Park (1993), and Ghostbusters (1984) have all received "requels" in The Force Awakens (2015), Jurassic World (2015), and Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021). These movies act as sequels, reboots, and remakes that take advantage of years of movie-making technology that weren't available when the originals came out (even if the originals created amazing spectacles without excessive CGI). The question is: are these requels still entertaining? For Ghostbusters: Afterlife, I think it certainly did a better job than Ghostbusters (2016) did. While these types of films rely heavily on call-backs and recycled plots from the movies that came before them, that's part of what makes them fun nostalgia-fueled flicks. New characters can give a spark of something different, even if the story beats are still the same as before. Case in point: I absolutely loved Paul Rudd's...
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BOOK: Wolves of the Calla (2003)

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Wolves of the Calla Year: 2003 Author: Stephen King Length: 1,563 minutes / 26.05 hours There comes a point when you've consumed enough stories that you notice similarities. Sure, there are common tropes applied to plots that make them seem similar, but what I'm talking about is when you're reading a book and immediately, you're like, "This is exactly like [FILL IN THE BLANK]." For me, the fifth book in the Dark Tower series, Wolves of the Calla, laid out its premise, and I instantly thought, "This is exactly like Seven Samurai (1954)." Fortunately, there was more to this book than this classic tale of villagers defending themselves with the help of skilled warriors. I will give credit to Stephen King for taking a well-known plot and adding enough sub-plots to distract from the fact that this book is the Dark Tower equivalent of The Magnificent Seven (1960). This is probably because these sub-plots are the driving force behind the main story arc of the...
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MOVIE: Nightmare Alley (2021)

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Nightmare AlleyYear: 2021Rating: RLength: 150 minutes / 2.50 hours I appreciate Guillermo del Toro for his sense of artistic style. His genius usually comes out in movies set in the 1940s and 1950s, with such hits as Pan's Labyrinth (2005) and The Shape of Water (2017). And while there are fun popcorn flicks of his that I enjoy (like Hellboy (2004) and Pacific Rim (2013)), I feel Nightmare Alley (2021) is my favorite work he has done to date. After all, his best work comes from showing the audience that humans are the actual monsters of the story. A story told in a solid three acts, Nightmare Alley is a beautiful uroboros of fame and hubris. The all-star casting of Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, and Willem Dafoe helped to sell the story of a grifter who gets too greedy for his own good. The twists and turns are exciting, if not wholly predictable, but that's part of the fun of...
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VIDEO GAME: Pokemon — White Version 2 (2012)

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Pokémon White Version 2 Year: 2012 Rating: E Time Played: 2,857 minutes / 47.61 hours With the "soft reboot" of the Pokémon franchise in Generation V, a lot had changed about these games. Black and White were harder than before, and a whole new set of 150 Pokémon left some long-time fans (like myself) wondering when any of our favorites would appear in the game. The expectation for "enhanced" versions for each Generation was cemented by Pokémon Yellow, Crystal, Emerald, and Platinum. To then get a two-game split sequel in Pokémon Black and White Version 2 was a bit of a shock. Released only a year after its predecessor, White 2 learned a bit from the original White. Classic Pokémon had returned to Unova and weren't locked behind the post-game content. These games still had enhanced features like being able to catch legendaries from previous games—a welcome inclusion that has remained to this day. And while I had just played through White when I started...
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MOVIE: Drive My Car (2021)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Drive My CarYear: 2021Rating: UnratedLength: 179 minutes / 2.98 hours There are movies made to be entertaining, then there are movies that gaze into the soul of human existence and dare us to blink. Drive My Car (2021) is the latter. Grief is such a complex topic that few have successfully tackled it meaningfully or with the depth that this film does. It's slow, steady, and meandering through various subplots, but it eventually gets its point across in the most stoic ways possible. After all, it's challenging to grieve for someone who you know has wronged you. I am no stranger to three-hour-long foreign films, but even this one pushed my limits. The problem is, I'm not entirely sure what I would have cut from it to make it any shorter (although, they probably could have ended this film a little earlier since the last scene made little sense to me). All the subplots combine to make a meaningful statement of the...
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