Letterboxd

Cute film, does not overstay its welcome. I feel might have been better as an animation than live action. Some of the dynamism of the situation might have been better captured by a skilled animator. Never quite made the jump to being touching for me, but I did enjoy the ending.

I do like how sometimes these Japanese films are ok with having a certain level of unexplained whimsy to them. Like not everything needs a perfectly defined and constrained universe. Internal consistency can sometimes be a bit overdone.

"Half Share" or "The Erotic Adventures of Ishmael Horatio 'Boytoy' Wang"

This book was a huge letdown. Honestly, I feel partly responsible—like I read too much into the first book.

Context: In [b:Quarter Share|2334538|Quarter Share (Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, #1)|Nathan Lowell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1273808382l/2334538.SY75.jpg|2341114], I thought we were seeing a shy, "homeschoole-vibed" young man thrown onto a spaceship, forced to grow up fast. The protagonist, Ishmael, has a sharp mind and a knack for deep focus, and he made his first big impact by starting a trading booth during his initial six months on duty.

Expectations: I was looking forward to Ishmael using his focus and intelligence to tackle increasingly complex challenges—each maybe 20% tougher than the last. Sometimes he’d succeed, sometimes he’d stumble, and it would be his growth as an ordinary, decent person in a demanding world. I thought this was the journey.

Reality: This book wildly redefines Ishmael. He’s no longer the quiet, uncertain young man from [b:Quarter Share|2334538|Quarter Share (Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, #1)|Nathan Lowell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1273808382l/2334538.SY75.jpg|2341114]—instead, he’s transformed into an implausible Gigachad. The change is just...absurd.

I may have misjudged [b:Quarter Share|2334538|Quarter Share (Golden Age of the Solar Clipper, #1)|Nathan Lowell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1273808382l/2334538.SY75.jpg|2341114]’s intent, imagining a grounded series about a regular guy facing increasingly realistic challenges. Maybe I misread the plain, no-frills world as the author’s challenge to make something interesting out of it. Instead, it turns out this is a pure power fantasy: Ishmael’s a Mary Sue who lucks into insane opportunities at every turn. If this is your thing, enjoy the journey—but I'll be waving from the dock as you sail on.

Bonus: A small sample of things I found particularly absurd:


* Randomly referred from one tailor to another elite tailor.
* Receives “magic pants” that make women swoon.
* Gains a “platonic harem” of women who have a spiritual awakening just from watching him try on clothes.
* Every woman starts swooning whenever he walks by.
* The entire ship becomes inexplicably obsessed with his personal life.
* Turns into a master flirt.
* Revealed to be great in bed, apparently since he was 14.
* Handles his liquor like a pro, as his mom had him drinking for years.
* Acquires a magical talisman with an "energy indicator" that’s brighter than anyone’s ever seen.
* Teams up with a random woman (Sarah) who doubles the value of his goods with her selling skills.
* Sarah largely recovers from an abusive relationship after a single good night's sleep?
* Supernatural ability to walk into any open air market and immediately spot the highest ROI item.
* Completely loses all self-doubt.

Letterboxd

The ending threw me a little, but the acting is just so spectacular. I also knew basically nothing about how a pope is selected and found the details of the process interesting.

I have worked at large companies that have a oddly similar atmosphere to the cardinal's politics. Echoes of "what is best for the church" often sound rather similar to "what is best for the company". I found it an interesting contrast.

Letterboxd

This is a little better than Black Adam, but is on the same scale of screw ups in terms of completely failing to capitalize on the source material. Venom is a 2 man act, with Eddie playing the straight man and the Symbiote as his counterpart. Could have had great scenes with the hippy family as they wax on what they have given up. Could have had great scenes as they go through their own "Fear and Loathing" ark in Vegas. Instead, we got this... noise.

Letterboxd

Pretty interesting interpersonal story within a larger political story. Casting and acting was also perfect. However, like the Dune (modern) movies, for me it is more about the set pieces and characters and settings. I thought it was pretty good at skating the edge between making you sympathetic to a life of loyalty vs. feeling that the characters are overly constrained by their sense of honor.

A book that is almost captivating in just how un-extroardinary it is. It is no exaggeration to say that the most action filled sequences in this book involve opening a booth at an open market. Despite all this, I found myself compelled to finish it.

To play an armchair psychologist, I might say that this book satisfies a similar need to hearing about the day of a close relationship. Nothing they are telling you is particular important or interesting, but you grow to want to just hear about their day because you have grown to care for them. I can't explain a book like this any better than that.

Letterboxd

Noir isn't usually my thing, but this was a genuinely good film. It was a little too much to really make sense of the clues through my first viewing, I think I might enjoy it more on a second pass when I can collect the clues.

Letterboxd

Enjoyable, but honestly didn't give me enough time at each beat to connect emotionally with the characters.

I did however enjoy the after the film section that let me watch more about the movie. I wish more films did those post credit things (even if it was just a QR code that I could scan and watch on my own).

Letterboxd

Golly there was some amazing camerawork during this film. I think the thing I enjoyed the most was matching the archetypes of these characters to people I know in my own life.

Letterboxd

I really like the art style and really appreciated the capture of motion in the wildlife. I think this got me teary eyed 4 or 5 times to be honest. Felt that the scenes off the island could have largely been cut, but other than that a basically perfect film.

Letterboxd

Still a great film.

Letterboxd

Enjoyable, but it just didn't quite catch me.

Letterboxd

I feel like it was genuine enough that I enjoyed it more than it's actual material warrants. Never heard of the creator before, though I suddenly recognized him in the closing credits as the "notice me sempai" guy. It's cool that he is doing his thing.

Letterboxd

This was unexpectedly good. I say this because the animation style I saw in the previews made me think "low budget cash grab". This is easily a tier above any Michael Bay directed film and acts as a solid intro to the Transformer franchise.

I'm curious what their test screenings and research department said about the previews? I had basically dismissed this film as it looked like the sort of cheap aughts animation that 2nd tier shows would get (that didn't have budget for more intensive animation). I would have skipped this entirely were it not for a friend of mine who is a real fan and wanted to see it. I'm just curious how many people are like me and might skip this based entirely on the lackluster preview?

Anywho, don't judge a book by its cover.

Letterboxd

Thoroughly enjoyable Poirot film. There seemed to be a lot of barbs/jabs/inuendos in this one that I don't recognize from other Poirot films. I assume those were added, but I think they actually added to the film.

Letterboxd

This film knew exactly what it wanted to be an executed on that. Can't say I didn't enjoy it.

Letterboxd

It was frustrating because I almost felt that this could have been a good film. It was really the way they dolled out information about what was going on that made it frustrating. Felt like 80% of it was just random noise with some very small reveals, and then everything is just connected at the last moment.

This might have been enjoyable if it had been one of those films where at the end you see that all the pieces were in place and you could have pieced it together except you were being misdirected.

Sadly, it was not.

Letterboxd

It had a lot heart, but honestly I was just a little tired of it by the end. Not "I don't like you" tired, but more "I enjoyed your company, but it is time for everyone to go home" type of tired.

Letterboxd

Acting was decent, I felt like it took a while getting the story rolling. Good, but just didn't connect with me.

Also, I can't help remembering that he specifically mentioned removing bad genes from the gene pool as a potential reason that we have a "dark genetic" (something like that) inclination to murder. Is... Is this movie a defense of eugenics?

Letterboxd

"This is nothing like Buffalo Wild Wings"

Letterboxd

Somehow based on the preview I was convinced that the gimmick was that she was deaf. A solidly fun monster film with a predictable but well executed plot. I saw this in a theater with some sort of "thumper" (or maybe just a really really low bass) that was actually really good for this movie. Really added a bit to the film to be able to feel the vibrations as a giant 4 ton monster careens your way. It was an interesting experience as it actually added a third (tactile) sense to the film.

Letterboxd

This felt like a sequence of 3 panel strips compiled into a film. With a single story threaded through the whole. I really enjoyed some of the attention to detail of some of the animation, some small moments were masterfully captured.

Letterboxd

The most Bruckheimer of Jerry Bruckheimer films. I mean, it ain't a thinking man's movie, but damned if I didn't have a pretty good time along its entire run length. You wouldn't watch it twice, but still a petty entertaining tent pole film.

Letterboxd

Cottage-core taken to the max.

Saw it in theaters today and enjoyed it more the second time than the first. It is definitely one of the more subdued Ghibli films, with quieter emotions, but it is still enjoyable.

Letterboxd

80 minutes, tense, fun. I thought Stewart was almost supernaturally perceptive, and Brandon practically wanted to be caught it seemed like.