Hello, and welcome to another Weekly Recap!
First off, the second episode of my new podcast is live: listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else you prefer to pod! My preference is Pocket Casts tbh. I’ve been using it since 2012 and haven’t looked back.
This week was relatively light for me, and honestly, March is shaping up to be pretty busy, so we’ll see how it goes.
But, let get to what this is all about: the recap!
FILM
Highlight: Theater Camp | 2023 | Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½
After the indomitable and beloved founder of a scrappy theater camp in upstate New York falls into a coma, the eccentric staff must band together with her clueless “crypto-bro” son to keep the thespian paradise afloat.
All theater nerds rise and salute our new anthem. This movie was phenomenal. I found myself genuinely laughing. Maybe it’s the specificity of the theater jokes, but I also think it’d funny regardless of your connection to the subject. This is shot as a pseudo-documentary, which allows for the loose, almost improv performances to shine. There’s not a bad actor in the bunch. Everyone knows exactly what movie they are in and how best to show their characters. The final song “Camp Isn’t Home” should be nominated AND win for Best Original Song. But we live in a godless society, so not a whisper for this excellent movie.
American Fiction | 2023 | Cord Jefferson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Finally, I caught up with the final Best Picture nominee I needed to see. It was exceptional! All the nominations are deserved and, though it probably won’t win much, it should. The script is one of the best of last year; very smart, very funny, and very moving.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Hashira Training- | 2024 | Haruo Sotozaki | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
April can’t get here fast enough. This was mostly a way to build hype for the nest season, and boy, did it ever. The animation is gorgeous, and the story is going to be so good.
Dune | 2021 | Denis Villeneuve | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
My third watch of this has cemented it into becoming one of my annual rewatches. It’s just so good. Look forward to hearing some more thoughts on the third episode of the podcast.
Dune: Part Two | 2024 | Denis Villeneuve | ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
I have a few issues with this, compared to the first one, but I’m still just so wowed by the accomplishment of the filmmaking that I can forgive some gripes with the pacing and narrative jumps.
SCAM Girls Movie Club
In the Mood for Hate
Possession | 1981 | Andrzej Żuławski | ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
Sam Neill has become a beloved mascot of the SCAM Girls movie club, and this horror movie has long been on my list to watch. I’m very happy to finally have crossed it off. It’s a weird one and left me a little confused, but the journey was cool! Isabelle Adjani and Neill gave perfect little weirdo performances.
TV
In Progress
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Season 1, Episodes 8-10
Shōgun, Season 1, Episode 1
Books
In Progress
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter | Brandon Sanderson — 20%
The Big Read
Dune | Frank Herbert — 90%
The Weathered Tome Society
American Gods | Neil Gaiman — 73%
Games
Highlight: NieR: Automata | PS4 | PlatinumGames | ⭐⭐⭐⭐
NieR: Automata tells the story of androids 2B, 9S and A2 and their battle to reclaim the machine-driven dystopia overrun by powerful machines.
This was much better than the first game, and I may come back to it to play another of the 26 ending (26!). Some of those are quick and depend on a single choice you make, others are more nuanced and drawn out. From the little I read without spoiling too much, it’s a worthier endeavor to replay for the endings than the first one. I just don’t feel like replaying multiple times right now. The gameplay was smooth and quick, making for a more exciting time playing it.
Video Games
Persona 4 Golden | PS Vita | Atlus
Diablo IV | PS5 | Blizzard Entertainment
YouTube
This attraction was brought up on a podcast I was listening to, and a quick YouTube search gave me this excellent Defunctland video. What an interesting idea for a theme park attraction. I wish I could've gone through it before it closed!
That’s it for this week. Let me know what you’ve been taking in!
Thanks for reading. Til next time!
— Colton