BOOK: Chimera (2024)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Chimera Year: 2024 Author: Lena M. Johnson Length: 98 pages ***THIS BOOK WAS RECEIVED FROM THE AUTHOR*** It's interesting how the "shifter" genre seems to use the same animals repeatedly. If you're looking for something different, look no further than Lena M. Johnson's Chimera. This novella was originally part of the Forgotten Shifter Files anthology, but now has its own release as a standalone novella. I appreciate how Johnson took the shifter prompt in the sci fi direction, as it feels easier to explain (and more feasible) in that context than in the way shifter stories usually go. I'll admit that there were a lot of characters presented at the beginning of Chimera that I had trouble keeping track of. I wasn't sure who was going to be the lead character until about a third of the way through, and there were sparse details to let me distinguish between the different individuals. Even with this cast of characters, there were a lot of interesting backstories and...
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MOVIE: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)

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Fantastic Mr. FoxYear: 2009Rating: PGLength: 87 minutes / 1.45 hours There's a point in a famous director's filmography that may make you scratch your head and wonder why they pivoted into something so different. Hindsight is always an interesting way to see how the change in genre or form eventually brought on the full realization of the director's style. For Wes Anderson, his previous films had begun to develop into his distinctive style, but Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) seemed to cement its aesthetic for all future Anderson movies. Hearkening back to the original stop-motion effects from the early years of cinema, Fantastic Mr. Fox is full of frenetic energy—partly from the fur covered creatures voiced by plenty of famous actors. These aren't clay molded stop-motion models like something from Aardman or Laika. Instead, there's a sort of jointed stiffness that is played to great effect by Anderson's love of straight lines and centering on the frame. That Anderson would eventually return to...
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VIDEO GAME: SUPERHOT – Mind Control Delete (2020)

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SUPERHOT: Mind Control DeleteYear: 2020Rating: TTime Played: ~10+ hours While I absolutely love the SUPERHOT concept where time only moves if you move, both SUPERHOT and SUPERHOT VR felt short for being full games. It seems the remedy for this was to create the pseudo sequel in SUPERHOT: Mind Control Delete. Unfortunately, this was done through adding Roguelike elements to the core SUPERHOT gameplay, but only in a way that made repeating the levels a gimmick of necessity instead of as a reward for continuing to play. I don't mind Roguelikes if they are done well (Loop Hero comes to mind as a good one). This includes permanent upgrades that make the game easier to play just based on how many times you've run the cycle. Most of the upgrades obtained in Mind Control Delete are earned through the same set of "play X number of levels without dying" mechanic that the rest of the game has. Granted, these upgrades are helpful...
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MOVIE: Big Hero 6 (2014)

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Big Hero 6Year: 2014Rating: PGLength: 102 minutes / 1.70 hours Even though Disney has a reputation for being good at the "Princess" movies, I have found that the films geared toward the guys are often overlooked gems. This was probably most obvious during the early 2000s with movies like Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) and Treasure Planet (2002), both of which were sci-fi movies that flopped. Fortunately, Disney adapts and aligns with popular trends to create some better received films geared toward the boys. Fusing the sci-fi genre with an anime-like setting and superhero theming, Big Hero 6 (2014) has stood up well over time. I think the only weakness of Big Hero 6 is how closely it plays to the standard tropes. Superhero origin stories are seen as necessary for starting a franchise, but there are only so many ways that plot can be explored before it feels too similar to other movies (with Iron Man (2008) parallels being made here)....
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BOOK: Yellowface (2023)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Yellowface Year: 2023 Author: R.F. Kuang Length: 519 minutes / 8.65 hours There are plenty of books with authors as the main character, but Yellowface feels like the first time that the struggles have been expressed in such a realistic way. Most author protagonists seem to exist in this vacuum where nobody else in their close circles shares their love of writing and publishing stories. They have no network with other authors or can commiserate over another rejected manuscript. And while Yellowface takes a bold approach to addressing diversity in the publishing world, it still ultimately paints the main character as a villain. One cannot overemphasize social media's effects on the modern publishing landscape. Anything authors can do to break through the noise, they’ll attempt just to get more traction to sell their book. Tons of talented authors are overlooked for a variety of reasons, but Yellowface asks whether pursuing marginalized voices has created the unintended consequence of marginalizing the voices that used to be...
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MOVIE: The Wrong Trousers (1993)

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The Wrong TrousersYear: 1993Rating: PGLength: 29 minutes / 0.48 hours There are plenty of movies where the second installment in a franchise takes all the lessons learned from the first film and uses them to make the absolute best movie possible. Terminator 2 (1991) and Spider-Man 2 (2004) are my go-to examples of this. This can also extend to short films, as seen by the second Wallace & Gromit short film, The Wrong Trousers (1993). There were a lot of improvements from A Grand Day Out, and I still think that this is the pinnacle of the Wallace & Gromit shorts. This time around, the Plasticine duo is up against Feathers McGraw—a dastardly villain who takes advantage of Wallace's kindness and gullible naivete. The pacing, music, and tension would fit right in with a Hitchcock film, which is what makes it that much sillier when the antagonist is a penguin with a rubber glove on its head. Having such a solid (and...
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VIDEO GAME: Tears of the Kingdom (2023)

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The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the KingdomYear: 2023Rating: E10+Time Played: 100+ hours After The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild broke the 3D Zelda franchise with its open-world gameplay, I was looking forward to the sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. While I wanted more of the same things Breath of the Wild offered, there were weaknesses in that entry that I hoped Nintendo would fix in this follow-up title. I may be in the minority here—much in the same way that I don't care as much for Majora's Mask over Ocarina of Time—but I actually liked Breath of the Wild more than this game. Let's start off with what was great: the story. I felt the flashbacks in Breath of the Wild left some amount to be desired, but the story uncovered during Tears of the Kingdom was leagues better and made for a much more satisfying boss battle with Ganondorf. A lot of the "same"...
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MOVIE: Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

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Deadpool & WolverineYear: 2024Rating: RLength: 128 minutes / 2.13 hours Ever since the early success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) proved how Marvel could successfully adapt their comics to the big screen, there was always this itch that couldn't be scratched. This was because certain properties like X-Men and Spider-Man were "trapped" at other studios like 20th Century Fox and Sony, respectively. Through mergers and other agreements, some of these franchises came back under the Marvel umbrella (via Disney), allowing Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) to scratch that crossover itch—finally. While this isn't the first time that 20th Century characters have appeared in a mainline MCU entry (with WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) having those distinctions), Deadpool & Wolverine felt like the proper send-off for these 20th Century characters. After all, it's likely we wouldn't even have an MCU if it weren't for the superhero films like X-Men (2000) that came before Iron Man (2008). In a...
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BOOK: Annihilation (2014)

by benmweilertNo Comments
AnnihilationYear: 2014Author: Jeff VanderMeerLength: 195 pages Having already watched the 2018 movie adaptation of Annihilation, I knew going into this book that it would be quite the trip. My expectations were mostly set on what was going to happen in this book, but not on how the author would convey these events. I was pleasantly surprised with something that felt just as disorienting. Told in the first-person perspective, Annihilation messes with the concept of an unreliable narrator in a way that I haven’t ever seen before. The real question is whether I understand anything now that I’ve seen the movie and read the book. There’s a melancholy present in Annihilation that almost borders on nihilism. The way the main character seems to float through this world, carrying her trauma and relational scars around in an eerily monotonous and emotionless manner, is both unsettling and oddly comforting. Was this her attempt at obtaining closure? Did she want to find somewhere she truly belonged?...
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MOVIE: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)

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Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Year: 2009 Rating: PG Length: 90 minutes / 1.50 hours One of the most memorable books of my childhood was Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I was skeptical a short book with no plot could become a feature-length movie. But, just like trying new foods, I gave Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) a chance. The result was something hilarious that both kids and adults could enjoy on different levels. Somehow, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller transformed this beloved book into a fun movie with lots of valid points about life. For their first film, Lord and Miller knocked it out of the park with their style of humor. It was goofy. It was smart. There's no doubt that this movie helped catapult them into other projects like The LEGO Movie (2014). Sure, there were the occasional bathroom humor bits, but there were so few of them as to not ruin the vibe. The voice acting fit...
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