Hope you all had a good week! A new podcast episode just dropped yesterday: Listen here! We discuss Love Lies Bleeding and introduce a new segment called The Shame Corner. Find it below as well:
I went on a beautiful date with my fiancée to Mirate, a Mexican restaurant in Los Feliz, that, while expensive, was delicious and worth the price.
Let’s just dive right into the recap.
FILM
Highlight: Ratatouille| 2007| Brad Bird ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family’s wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the sewers of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unlikely - and certainly unwanted - visitor in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant, Remy’s passion for cooking soon sets into motion a hilarious and exciting rat race that turns the culinary world of Paris upside down.
The final movie of March’s SCAM Girl Movie Club is one of my all-time favorite Pixar films. Brad Bird has an impeccable ability to direct animation. Despite this not being an action movie, he can capture the magic of a rat cooking as if it had the same thrills as his Mission Impossible entry. I was stunned by how good this movie still looks despite its age. Pixar man…they’re good at what they do. My fiancée also cooked actual ratatouille for us, making it a magical experience.
Road House | 1989 ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I had to watch the original after the disaster of the 2024 remake. It’s so much fun! It’s bonkers and unhinged at times, but I love it. Patrick Swayze is one of the great movie stars.
The Deer King | 2021 ⭐⭐⭐½
I was a little disappointed in this as the praise I heard was high when it came out. The start of the films was promising and pulled me in with the story's scope and the world's uniqueness. By the end, however, it felt like it should have been an anime TV show. It felt like it was missing some story and I was kind of bored in the last act. Gorgeous animation though!
The Devil’s Backbone | 2001 ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
Guillermo del Toro’s ghost story is, in a word, sublime. There’s a lot at play here that he would continue to develop and perfect in his next movie, 2006’s Pan’s Labyrinth. This is a wonderfully crafted and masterfully told story of revenge and love.
Godzilla × Kong: The New Empire | 2024 ⭐⭐
I can’t with WB’s Monsterverse. Suffice to say, I should love this, but I really don’t. It doesn’t help that we got an amazing kaiju movie recently in Godzilla Minus One. I’ll leave it at that as this will be on the next episode of Agree to Disagree.
TV
In Progress
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Season 1, Episodes 17-21
Battlestar Galactica, Season 1, Episode 8
Shōgun, Season 1, Episode 6
Books
Highlight: Richard II | William Shakespeare ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I was listening to a podcast on Richard II, the actual historical figure, and they were quoting the play and then I was thinking how I had never watched The Hollow Crown, so I figured why not reread Billy’s plays that the show adapts? This is an oft-overlooked play unless a theatre is doing a War of the Roses run of shows, but it’s quite good. It’s simple, but Richard II is a fun role and there are some excellent monologues.
Once & Future, Vol. 3: The Parliament of Magpies | Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora (Illustrations), Tamra Bonvillain (Color Artist)
I’m back at the comics, baby! This was a fun volume in this series. It featured the legend of The Green Knight as well as a first look at Lancelot. Dan Mora continues to astound.
Once & Future, Vol. 4: Monarchies in the UK | Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora (Illustrations), Tamra Bonvillain (Color Artist)
In this volume, we have a bigger scope than the first three, there’s revealed to be multiple iterations of Arthur and they all want to fight each other. I’m excited to see how the next volume ties all of this up.
In Progress
The Sunlit Man | Brandon Sanderson — 21
The Big Read
Jane Eyre | Charlotte Brontë - 24%
The Weathered Tome Society
The Shamshine Blind | Paz Pardo — 26%
Games
In Progress
Persona 4 Golden | PS Vita | Atlus
YouTube
I technically finished watching this today but it was too good not to put here. Not only is it about video game to film adaptation, but it’s also a lot about the process of adapting and what makes it hard. Very good video from the always excellent Patrick (H) Willems.
That’s it for this week. Let me know what you’ve been taking in!
Thanks for reading. Til next time!
— Colton