Reviews for September 2023
Spoilers!
Movies
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Very nearly skipped this as the Crystal Skull installment was atrocious. The dial is the Antikythera mechanism which is cool, although it's a toddler proofed version with a very different function than the original. The film's heart is in the right place and it's much closer to the originals, but the CGI young Indie kind of sinks it. Harrison Ford is showing his age but better than any plausible replacement (definite Joe Biden vibes) and I wish they'd stuck with that. Instead there is a lot of flashback to fake young Indie which would make for an impressive demo but doesn't work in a major movie. Maybe the technology will get there one day, or maybe we should hand the baton on to a new generation of heros (again with Joe Biden parallels).
Operation Napoleon
Fun Icelandic thriller about a Nazi plane that crashed with a mysterious cargo.
Music
America
Haunting music and video by London Grammar. Keeps growing on me.
Podcasts
FiveThirtyEight Politics
In the run up to Trump's first election I started listening to the NPR Politics Podcast. It was hard to keep up, and the opening with the hour and minute where the content would still be relevant was on the nose. It's since got tired, and they unfortunately switched to a daily update which doesn't have much depth. Safe to say if I'm listening to a politics podcast I know the headlines already. Luckily I also started listening to FiveThirtyEight Politics. Nate Silver might be gone, but it's still great, diving into nerdy detail on the tiniest little thing. This goes to the top of my queue each time it's published, mostly twice a week at the moment.
Intrigue Burning Sun
Disturbing reporting on K-Pop, rape and the Koran legal system.
Intrigue Mayday
A dead British soldier, the White Helmets and fake chemical attacks in Syria.
Intrigue Tunnel 29
Yes I will be listening to the entire back catalogue of Intrigue this month. Tunnel 29 is the story of a tunnel under the Berlin wall. It's the best from Intrigue so far.
TV
Good Omens Season 2
The archangel Gabriel shows up naked at Aziraphale's bookshop, hijinks ensue. Great sequel.
Kaleidoscope
In principle Kaleidoscope is very clever because you can watch most of the episodes in any order, and Netflix says that everyone gets a random shuffle. In practice though it's a heist and so you already know every detail, only the specific macguffins and flourishes need to be added. I enjoyed it.
Special Ops Lioness Season 1
A little soapy. I'd rather watch Jack Ryan and Grey's Anatomy separately rather than mashed up together like an experimental ice cream flavor. Has its moments though.
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