Media Diet: July 2023

I’m finally all moved, and life is settling back to normal and looking forward to spending more time writing and working on some projects. Despite the move and the packing, or maybe thanks to it, I read and watched a ton this month.

As I was putting this together, I noticed this is my first repeat month of Media Diet posts! I’ve managed to do them consistently for an entire year. I’m happy with that as someone who has notoriously been flaky about posting. Here’s to writing more normal blog posts in the next year too! Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark - My 100th rewatch, but still just as enjoyable. Great rewatch before Dial of Destiny. (A+)

🎥 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - I went in with no expectations after how godawful Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was, but I thoroughly enjoyed this! Fun action movie with just enough fan service. (B+)

📚 Witch King by Martha Wells - Usually, I am a giant fan of Martha Wells, but wow, this was such a dud. Read as part of my Sci-Fi and Fantasy Book Club, and it was (almost) universally disliked. (C-)

🎥 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - These worsen after each film. A shame they didn’t stop with the first one. (C+)

🎥 Extraction 2 - What a snooze fest. The first one was at least some enjoyable action. I was barely able to pay attention to this one. (C)

📺 Never Have I Ever Season 4 - Continues to be a fantastic coming-of-age TV series with lots of laughs. (A)

🎥 Nimona - I loved the graphic novel and thoroughly enjoyed the film! They did a great job with it; worth a watch. (A)

📺 How I Met Your Father Season 2 - An improvement over Season 1! Fun and lighthearted. (B+) Platonic Season 1 - Had its ups and downs. Decent watch but had the potential to be much more than it was. (B)

📺 The Bear Season 2 - Continues to be one of my favorite TV series of the last decade. Just watch it. (A+)

🎥 Creed III - Another series of films that shouldn’t have kept going. (B-)

📚 Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson - I usually enjoy Sanderson’s books but have not loved his “Secret Project” series. I disliked the previous book, “The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England,” so much that I didn’t finish it. This one was good enough to finish, with some fun ideas, but just not that great of a read. (B)

📚 Resolute + Implacable by Jack Campbell - I just realized I was two books behind this series; I enjoyed getting caught back up! My favorite “beach read” Sci-Fi series. Easy reading and lots of fun. (A)

📺 It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 16 - I hate to say it, but I enjoy the Always Sunny podcast more than the TV show. It feels like they’ve lost a bit of their spark. (B)

🎥 Thoroughbreds - Anna Taylor-Joy and Olivia Cooke are a fantastic combo. Super fun film. (A-)

📺 BEEF Season 1 - It took me a few episodes to get hooked, but what a wild ride. I thoroughly enjoyed how they wrapped up the series. (A+)

📺 Oppenheimer - I loved the film’s first two-thirds, but I still don’t know how I feel about the last third. It has changed so much and isn’t the same film. Still well worth watching, though. (B+)

📺 The Righteous Gemstones Season 3 - Funny but could be better. I want it to be more like Eastbound & Down. (B+)

📺 Family Law Season 3 - One of the only TV shows today filmed AND set in Vancouver, where I live! I love getting to see my city as the backdrop. It’s also a great show, and Jewel Staite is incredible, as always. (A)

📺 The Witcher Season 3 - What a terrible send-off for Henry Cavill. Overall the season was good, but the ending was just atrocious. (B)