The Lego Movie (2014)
with Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks
The innovative art style and wealth of creative ideas make The Lego Movie a standout among kids’ films, though its humor leans too often on slapstick and cameos.
Reviews from 2024
53 reviews (30 books, 21 movies, 2 whiskys) with an average rating of 3.5
8-Bit Christmas (2021)
with Winslow Fegley, Neil Patrick Harris, Steve Zahn
8-Bit Christmas leans heavily on nostalgia, but the NES hunt feels like a generic MacGuffin — swap it with any childhood obsession, and you'd get the same movie — while the predictable storyline and overly sentimental ending fail to leave a lasting impression.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson
Unapologetically dark and intense, Larsson crafts a gripping twist on the Locked Room Mystery trope with compelling main characters, though the story gets bogged down by too many red herrings and an overwhelming cast of side characters that add little to the plot.
The Centre
by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
The Centre teases an intriguing mystery about a language-learning retreat but gets bogged down by underdeveloped themes of racism and misandry, ultimately hinting at a compelling conclusion it fails to deliver.
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
with Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
A movie that knows exactly what it wants to be, Deadpool & Wolverine delivers all the self-referential humor, surprise cameos, and raunchy one-liners you could hope for, though it stumbles a bit when figuring out what story it wants to tell.
The Hunger
by Alma Katsu
Turning the tragic Donner Party tale into a supernatural story should have been great, but The Hunger's uneven pacing, underdeveloped horror, and forgettable characters left me hungry for more (get it?).
Filterworld
by Kyle Chayka
Chayka raises vital points about cultural evolution in the age of algorithmic recommendations and how we experience art, but falls short of expectations by offering too few practical antidotes for this filtered world.
Digital Minimalism
by Cal Newport
Newport has a tendency to tell more tangential stories than necessary, but I can't help but give Digital Minimalism such a high rating for the profound effect that Newport's suggested strategies had on my life.
Dad is Fat
by Jim Gaffigan
While landing the occasional well-timed joke, Dad is Fat ultimately only has one joke, 'This everyday activity is more difficult / less enjoyable when you have many kids'.
City of Stairs
by Robert Jackson Bennett
Bennett builds a fascinating world of political intrigue and an enticing pantheon of dead gods, with memorable characters I grew to love, ultimately falling just short due to minor pacing issues.
Immaculate (2024)
with Sydney Sweeney, Álvaro Morte, Simona Tabasco
While I didn’t dislike the premise, Immaculate filled the first two-thirds with cheap, unoriginal jumpscares, and though I enjoyed the ending, not even Sweeney’s remarkable acting could save the film for me.
Whalefall
by Daniel Kraus
The premise immediately drew me in, and I enjoyed the exploration of Jay’s relationship with his father, but the book ultimately left me unsatisfied as it devolved into 'Look how many facts about whales I can cram into my novel'.
Sharp Objects
by Gillian Flynn
A dark, captivating thriller filled with the beautifully dysfunctional characters Flynn crafts so well, Sharp Objects had me more invested in the twisted family drama than the murder investigation.
The Last Stop in Yuma County (2023)
with Jim Cummings, Jocelin Donahue, Richard Brake
The Last Stop in Yuma County feels like an extended version of Pulp Fiction's diner scene, drawing all its staying power from constantly answering, "Wow, could this get any worse?"
Dark Places
by Gillian Flynn
Flynn shines brightest when crafting characters you truly believe in and putting them through horrifying ordeals, though the far-fetched Kill Club slightly tested my suspension of disbelief.
Legends and Lattes
by Travis Baldree
A book as cozy as the smell of fresh-baked bread and a cup of coffee on a rainy day, Legends & Lattes is filled with low-stakes adventure and an enviable community of true friends.
The Beauty
by Aliya Whiteley
A fungal fever-dream that explores gender, society, and transformation through the lens of merciless body horror, The Beauty is the first book in a while that deeply unsettled me.
The Scourge Between Stars
by Ness Brown
An interesting premise for a novella, undermined by the author's self-admitted rush job, overloaded with adverbs, tired horror tropes, and a main character who’s utterly terrible at waiting for an answer after asking questions.
The Heat Will Kill You First
by Jeff Gooddell
A wonderfully expansive book on heat and its disastrous future consequences for our planet — a rare read that I would both enthusiastically recommend to anyone and deeply regret ever picking up.
Lock In
by John Scalzi
I was immediately drawn in by the premise of this book, and while the world-building felt a bit lackluster — especially in the first two-thirds — the deliciously satisfying resolution of the murder mystery made it easy to overlook the occasional two-dimensional character.
White Night
by Jim Butcher
While 'the vampires did it' starts to feel repetitive as a reveal in Butcher’s magical whodunnits, the final standoff in the cave is thrilling enough to leave me with a favorable view of the handsome wizard’s shenanigans.
Moving Pictures
by Terry Pratchett
While Victor is more of a B-list protagonist in Pratchett’s pantheon, the sheer fact that Moving Pictures crossbreeds Hol(l)ywood magic with Lovecraftian horrors makes the book utterly enjoyable.
Abschalten
by Martin Suter
A bit like grabbing fast food during a business lunch, Suter's Business Class books — comprised of short, amusing vignettes — are perfect for a quick two-minute read, but ultimately lack meaningful nutrition.
The Invisible Man (2020)
with Elisabeth Moss, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Harriet Dyer
Though overly reliant on the 'make you pay close attention to the background so we can jumpscare you more easily' trope, the movie still manages to pull the occasional delight out of its invisible hat.
Atomic Habits
by James Clear
Atomic Habits is wonderfully concise and chock-full of actionable advice, making it a book I count upon those that had the most noticable impact on my life.
Blood Meridian
by Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian offers a vivid, violent and haunting portrayal of the American West, but its unrelentingly dense prose — however poetic it may be — nearly had me putting the book down more than once.
Her (2013)
with Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johannson
Director Spike Jonze paints a visually stunning future (hauntingly empty outside of the protagonist's social sphere and depressingly plausible) and uses it to tell a captivating and thought-provoking story with a poignant and refreshing ending.
The Thing (1982)
with Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David
The relentless paranoia, visceral body horror, and still-amazing-fourty-years-later practical effects add up to a fantastic movie that does not allow you even a minute to catch your breath.
Guglhof TauernRogg
from Austria
The first Austrian whisky I ever drank features a prominent honey sweetness, a sharp bite at first taste, and a potpourri of different fruit that hides until the finish.
Dungeons & (2023)
with Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page
A movie that captures the feeling of actually running a D&D adventure — complete with random magical objects that the characters forget to mention until the minute they need them — would have been a perfect experience, were it not for the slight tendency to overuse one-liners.
Bowmore Twelve Year Old
from Islay
The notes of citrus are very clear on the first sip, and I wish Bowmore didn't feel the need to counterbalance that with the intense sweetness, but the taste of smoke and peat makes this a budget-friendly whisky for not-quite-so-special occasions.
Proven Guilty
by Jim Butcher
While the movie monster chase was stifled and awkward — because Butcher could not use existing horror movie staples — the expedition to Arctis Tor and Molly's subsequent trial played to the strong suits of the series.
Sicario (2015)
with Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro
Kate Macer's constant, largely futile search for answers, the bombastic, bone-rattling soundtrack, and the movie's unwillingness to relieve the tension with a comforting finale made sure I did not take my eyes off the screen once.
Godzilla Minus One (2023)
with Minami Hamabe, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Sakura Andô
Besides an amazing portrayal of the Big Boy himself, Minus One also weaves a story about national trauma, personal loss, cowardice, and bravery — while suffering from a couple (minor) bad plot twists aimed at ensuring a happy ending.
French Kids Eat Everything
by Karen Le Billon
Le Billon weaves personal anecdotes (which definitely could have been more concise) about her life in France with practical advice on how to help your kids grow to appreciate food, giving you insight into French meal culture and preferring gentle shifts in mindset over set-in-stone table rules.
Arrival (2016)
with Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker
Arrival presents one of the most expertly crafted science-fiction movies I've ever seen, using outstanding cinematography, a flawless score, and breathtaking creature design to tell a story about humanity that unexpectedly brought me to tears at the end.
The Fall Guy (2024)
with Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson
A relentlessly funny popcorn movie — featuring a trivially predictable murder mystery — that skillfully sets the stage for Gosling and Blunt to act their hearts out.
Tender is the Flesh
by Agustina Bazterrica
Bazterrica introduces a small, tender rose of hope into her relentless, cannibalistic nightmare world, carefully tends to it, and then spends the last couple of pages ripping it out and flagellating you with it.
Boy and Going Solo
by Roald Dahl
Dahl describes his early life in English boarding schools and his deployment for the RAF in World War II with such excellent craftsmanship that the reader tends to forget the stories are not made up.
The Menu (2022)
with Ralph Fiennes, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicholas Hoult
The utter pretentiousness of fine dining made it plausible for the characters to play into the plot for a while, but ultimately, I ran out of suspended disbelief before the movie's underwhelming ending.
Game Night (2018)
with Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Kyle Chandler
Stellar camera work and solid acting elevate this movie to a level that even the constant need of the script to one-up itself can't drag itself down from.
His House (2020)
with Sope Dirisu, Wunmi Mosaku, Malaika Wakoli-Abigaba
Dirisu's and Mosaku's flawless performance elevate a "haunted house" horror movie by exploring the trauma of fleeing from war and the kafkaesque nightmare of being a refugee.
Project Hail Mary
by Andy Weir
Project Hail Mary is a brilliantly crafted sci-fi novel that blends science, suspense, and heart so well that I forgive the author for using an amnesia subplot.
Slither (2006)
with Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Banks, Michael Rooker
An unapologetically disgusting body-horror movie with hilariously stoic deliveries by Nathan Fillion that reminds me of VHS horror classics, but sadly fails to provide any novel takes.
Madame Web (2024)
with Dakota Johnson, Sidney Sweeney, Isabella Merced
A friend and I watched this to make fun of a mediocre movie, but the squandered potential of an admittedly fun premise made us wish we would have spend those 116 minutes doing literally anything else.
Death's End
by Cixin Liu
The sheer inventiveness the author displays, combined with the satisfying ending to the trilogy, makes me even forgive him for putting a three-chapter-long fairy-tale in the middle of it.
The Very Best of Fesshole
by Various Authors
Neither the illustrations nor the publisher's half-hearted intermissionary jokes elevate the book over just reading Twitter, but it is a great book to read on the toilet.
Artemis
by Andy Weir
Weir flexes his world-building muscles with this book, and although the dialogue between characters can be hard to believe at times, I still thoroughly enjoyed daydreaming about living in Artemis.
Planes (2013)
with Dane Cook, Carlos Alazraqui, Val Kilmer
The only positive thing I can say about this movie is that it gave me and my three-year-old an excuse to eat popcorn.
How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen
by Joanna Faber
While this book could have easily be cut to about ⅔rd of its size if you cut out the apocryphal (and most likely made-up) stories, some of the tactics in this book work on my toddler like black magic.
The Light Fantastic
by Terry Pratchett
While Pratchett is far from done spreading his wings as an author, the second Discworld novel is a charming, hilarious, and deeply memorable book, further cementing Rincewind's place in my heart.
Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse (2023)
with Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry
The sequel elevates the quirky and inventive artstyle of its predecessor to an electrifying (get it?) level, while also introducing new characters that fit the storyline and make me excited for the third part.
Death on the Nile (2022)
with Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Kenneth Branagh
While I enjoy Branagh's take on the Poirot character and had a good time watching this movie, the murder mistery is so utterly predictable and extensively telegraphed that it took away from my enjoyment a little.