The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Twenty years old and yet it has aged quite well. Still a classic.
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The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026)
Since we watched the first, we continued in to watching the second one. And, look, it's a kid's movie. That's the most important thing. But, as entertainment for adults - it was bad.
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The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)
I had watched this previously on an airplane, but I dozed off multiple times. So the wife and I gave it a watch last night.
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Big Mistakes (2026) on Netflix
We're three episodes into the new Big Mistakes series and so far... I'm meh. I struggle with shows which are just lots of interpersonal yelling, even if for comedic purposes. We'll see how it goes.
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Mission Impossible (1996)
Crazy to think that this movie is thirty years old. Well, I say that, but so much of this movie is aged. From the dial up internet and bad technology, to the style and cinematography.
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On Tyranny
A short read which should really be required reading for the world right now.
Here are a few passages I highlighted from the book.
These two excepts came from the Prologue of the book:
Since the American colonies declared their independence from a British monarchy that the Founders deemed "tyrannical," European history has seen three major democratic moments: after the First World War in 1918, after the Second World War in 1945, and after the end of communism in 1989.
Fascists rejected reason in the name of will, denying objective truth in favor of a glorious myth articulated by leaders who claimed to give voice to the people.
From Chapter 1 "Do not obey in advance":
Crucially, people who were not Nazis looked on with interest and amusement.
From Chapter 3 "Beware the one-party state":
The American abolitionist Wendell Phillips did in fact say that "eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." He added that "the manna of popular liberty must be gathered each day or it is rotten."
From Chapter 5 "Remember professional ethics":
If lawyers had followed the norm of no execution without trial, if doctors had accepted the rule of no surgery without consent, if businessmen had endorsed the prohibition of slavery, if bureaucrats had refused to handle paperwork involving murder, then the Nazi regime would have been much harder pressed to carry out the atrocities by which we remember it.
This section is largely reminding that the Nazi atrocities relied on professionals bending to the evil acts of others to either support directly or at least not impede. The government machine we see happening in DC is the system working as it resists the changes the government is undergoing.
From Chapter 7 "Be reflective if you must be armed":
Yet we make a great mistake if we imagine that the Soviet NKVD or the Nazi SS acted without support. Without the assistance of regular police forces, and sometimes regular soldiers, they could not have killed on such a large scale.
This section largely says "look, if you're going to get a gun, don't lose perspective." But again, similar to the above, it's a reminder that secret police rely on the support of local law enforcement. Which makes the local PD and Sheriff departments refusal to help with ICE etc. are critical resistance elements.
Chapter 10 "Believe in truth":
Post-truth is pre-fascism.
Chapter 14 "Establish a private life":
What the great political thinker Hannah Arendt meant by totalitarianism was not an all-powerful state, but the erasure of the difference between private and public life.
Chapter 17 "Listen for dangerous words":
The way to destroy all rules, he explained, was to focus on the idea of the exception. A Nazi leader outmaneuvers his opponents by manufacturing a general conviction that the present moment is exceptional, and then transforming that state of exception into a permanent emergency. Citizens then trade real freedom for fake safety.
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Home Alone 1 and 2
It's hard for me to explain why, but I found myself greatly disliking the second movie's decision to further rely on slapstick and painful moments with the thieves. I haven't watched Home Alone 2 in a long time and so the rewatch today made me realize how far it trails the first in my overall enjoyment.
I realize they're kid movies and may as well be cartoons, but the painful moments definitely hit harder (no pun intended) and are less entertaining for me in the second movie than the first's, which I still find largely enjoyable and nostalgic.
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The Wager - DNF
I finally gave in on trying to read The Wager. I think it is a me-thing and not a commentary on the book. It's an interesting fictionalized telling of a historical event based on journals and other historic records.
I am about 45% of the way through and I just... lost motivation to keep going on it. It's well reviewed and many people enjoy it, so it's not a universal experience with the book, but I just have decided to, well, abandon ship.
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Running Man (2025) - 2 or 5 Hunters
An especially important and poignant commentary on society and modern entertainment, but nothing particularly life changing as far as movies go.
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Frankenstein (2025)
Overall, I quite enjoyed it. It didn't blow me away, but it was classic Guillermo del Toro doing what he does. Also, I restrained myself to only shouting out "It's Franken-steen!" once while watching.
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Thunderbolts* (2025)
I didn't love this one the way other people did, but it's still a decent MCU flick, and of the recent era it's great.
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Naked Gun (2025)
Okay, that movie was fucking hilarious. And so true to the vision and experience of the first. Liam Neeson killed it.
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Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025)
I haven't loved an MI movie since maybe... 3? I don't know. Finally checked this one out and... woof. Good riddance to this series, maybe we can get a new action star series going..
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The Thursday Murder Club (2025)
Such a disappointing film with such a murderer's row of talent in the cast. I think some of what I attribute to low quality in the film is more of a purposeful schlock for the genre and feel they were going for.
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Superman (2025)
We finally watched this at home, never made it to the theaters for it. It was... fine. I think my expectations were too high going in.
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The Amateur (2025)
Just flat and ultimately slow moving. I should have loved it but I didn't.
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Nonnas (2025)
Put on Nonnas today and found it cute but overall nothing amazing. It's a feel good Vince Vaughn movie with a few notable faces and some delicious sounding and looking Italian food.
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Fountain of Youth (2025)
The movie is not amazing. It's the latest in the lineage of Indiana Jones, the Librarian, and National Treasure. But, it is not an amazing movie. I hope it does well enough they get to do another one and perhaps find their groove.
Also, I legit can't remember much of the soundtrack at all, but there is a Thai version of 'Bang Bang' at the start of the movie which is a banger:
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Chef (2014)
Still a fantastic movie. Makes me realize I really need to get a panini press.
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Mission Impossible (1996)
Crazy to think this movie is 29 years old. I remember seeing it when it came and even then thinking it was kind of hokey. I was also pissed off they killed Emilio Estevez.
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