Enola Holmes 2 (2022): ⭐️⭐️⭐️: Like the first, it was a cute and entertaining adventure, though not quite as good as the first.
TV And Films
The shows and movies I like (or don’t).
🎥 The Menu
The Menu (2022): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: Best watched as if you’re going to a fancy new restaurant for the first time: no reviews, no trailers, just enjoy experiencing what the chef has planned for your evening.
But if you do want a little bit of an amuse-bouche to whet the appetite: It’s kind of the foodie world’s version of Galaxy Quest, by which I mean both that it’s really funny and that it knows its subject very, very well. Though Galaxy Quest approached its genre with love, this is a (very) dark comedy instead of bright and shiny. Reminded me in the best way of the twisted films my friends and I would gather together to watch in our 20s.
🎥 Everything Everywhere All At Once
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: Well, now I see what all the fuss has been about — and how richly deserved it is. That was the most confusing, bizarre, hilarious, unexpected, touching, and sweet film I’ve seen in ages. So glad I went in knowing next to nothing about it. Just excellent, on every level.
📚 Sacrifices of War by Kevin Ryan
68/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Wraps up all the threads quite nicely, in a way that I didn’t expect when I started the first book – by revisiting Errand of Mercy. While the episode always mentioned that the Federation and the Klingon Empire were at the brink of war, the combination of TOS’s weekly adventure format and ‘60s TV styles always meant that it never really felt that dire. By exploring the buildup of tensions between the powers over six books and several bloody encounters in space, on the ground, and on space stations, the events of the episode, and even Kirk and Kor’s frustration at being prevented from going to war, gain much more weight and solidity.
📚 Demands of Honor by Kevin Ryan
67/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
As we approach the end of this hexology, it’s worth noting that it’s doing a really neat job of exploring the state of affairs with and within the Klingon empire from both Starfleet and Klingon viewpoints. While these are some of the more violent Trek novels I’ve read, it works well to give weight to the interactions hear referenced and see onscreen in TOS episodes.
📚 Seeds of Rage by Kevin Ryan
66/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Picks up directly after the end of the prior trilogy, with tensions between Starfleet and the Klingon Empire continuing to deteriorate. Moves the larger story along, while also using flashbacks to revisit events in the prior books from another viewpoint. This continues to be a strong series.
📚 River of Blood by Kevin Ryan
65/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
A strong conclusion to the trilogy, culminating in an all-out battle between invading Klingons and Starfleet defenders on a starbase that takes up the majority of the book. Something of the literary equivalent of the final act CGI battle of any given Marvel movie. The threads wrap up satisfyingly well, with a few nicely placed ties to future events and characters. Though I rated each standalone book at three stars, taken together, the trilogy as a whole is definitely above average for Trek novels. (Though all books do suffer from occasional typos missed in the editing passes; in this one, the starbase’s first mention is given the designation Starbase 43, but in the next paragraph it becomes Starbase 42 and remains there for the rest of the book.) Also, keep an eye out on the character names — many throughout the series are named for notable people in Trek’s real-world past.
🎥 Glass Onion
Glass Onion (2022): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: A good twisty mystery, a perfect cast, and a hilarious script. Absolutely excellent, across the board. Daniel Craig is so much more watchable as Benoit Blanc than as James Bond, Janelle Monaé is flawless, Ed Norton as Elon Musk is perfect…the whole thing, really. Just excellent.
And has probably my favorite line from anything I’ve watched recently: “It’s a dangerous thing to mistake speaking without thought for speaking the truth.”
🎥 Elvis
Elvis (2022): ⭐️⭐️⭐️: On the one hand, it’s my least favorite of Baz Lurhmann’s projects. On the other hand — I still liked it; even a “least favorite” Baz Luhrmann is still pretty good.
Pros: As always, the music and the visuals. Within the first five seconds, it’s obvious that this is a Baz Lurhmann film, and it doesn’t let up. I’ll definitely be looking up the soundtrack; as can be expected from one of Baz’s films, there are some really neat blends of Elvis’s songs with contemporary sounds.
(Admittedly, much of the above could be a con rather than a pro, if Baz’s style doesn’t work as well for you as it does for me.)
Con: I’m not entirely convinced it really had to be nearly three hours long. As much as I like Baz, that’s a lot of Baz to sit through. While it’s not quite his longest — Australia gets that prize by six minutes — it is his longest music-focused film. I definitely think he works better when constrained to about two hours or less…or has the space to really make a longer format work, as he did with the TV series The Get Down.
As I continue to think about this, I wonder if part of why this one didn’t rank as high for me is that part of what I love about Baz’s work is how incredibly good he is at using music as a palette, and taking all sorts of different artists, genres, and styles, blending them, mashing them up, and creating something new.
Where here, because it was all focused on a singular artist, there wasn’t as much of that. While I enjoy Elvis, the tracks that stood out to me the most and that I’m most interested in finding on the soundtrack were those that combined his music with the blues and country influences and with modern pop beats and rhythms.
Maybe — for me, at least — focusing on a single artist actually worked against the film, because it didn’t allow Baz to do some of what he does best.
📚 Killing Blow by Kevin Ryan
64/2022 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
As with many mid-points of trilogies, not quite as strong as the first, though still better than average. Some flashback scenes are written in with the main narrative and occasionally mildly confusing when scenes switch between present and past battles, and there are a few unfortunate typos swapping similarly named characters. Once those are accounted for, though, a decent enough middle chapter.
