Books:
Ashes of the Sun (Burningblade & Silvereye #1) by Django Wexler
This was a completely entertaining first in a fantasy (in case you couldn't tell from the title) trilogy about a long-estranged brother/sister who, for various spoilerable reasons, wind up on kinda opposite sides of a larger plotline. What I primarily enjoyed about this book is that the writing, while honestly irritatingly uncopyedited (like sentences switch tense randomly as do pronouns) for which I don't really blame the author since uh I only make 5 bajillion missed typos a day including no doubt some right here in uncopyedited Media Report but rather whomever published this, is very very speedy. The book is actually kind of doorstopper length but I zipped right through it and always looked forward to picking it back up. Look I'm not saying it’s the height of anything - the world is sorta generic (not entirely but components of it) and I wouldn't say the rules of the dual magic systems are all that clear which is problematic because there's a lot of it in the book - but the characters are fun and there's pretty much nonstop action. The sister has one form of magic and is being trained by this dictatorial group that's out to suppress the other form of magic the brother has access to - he's a scroungy/thief-type though with a moral compass - and there are lots of mysteries, presumably to be resolved in future books, around where this clash is heading and why it exists in the first place. I'm avoiding spoilering here but essentially the current system is the result of some centuries-ago mega-battles that wiped out (more or less) all the combatants and people in the present-tense of the book are either using whatever they can find that survived from that era or have some inherent power both of which are bound by energy limitations meaning power runs out and people then have to rely on skill and wits. The book is somewhat overwritten and there's a fair amount of shoe-leather between the action sequences and, as mentioned, a vagueness (unintentional I think) around the magic stuff, but really none of that stopped me from inhaling it. You can see the shape of where the trilogy might be headed what with the distant past stuff and these two opposing powers and political factions within the sister's world and perhaps a third outside power coming in to mess with everything (not clear on that yet) and these two siblings on opposite sides of the moral fence but still family kind of at the center of it all. And that's all fine for what I'd say is an airplane-read fantasy because it's so easy to just flip through and really despite my critiques that's the testament to the author and I'll be delighted to start the sequel pronto.
TV/Streaming:
Sky Castle:
This is a completely gripping drama about hypercompetitive teens and the extent to which they and their parents will go to ensure they get into the college of their choice. While it took me like two episodes or so to really get into it, once this show got going, it was nonstop binge-y dramatic awesomeness. The show focuses around, more or less, five families in an extremely wealthy suburb of Seoul, all of whom are obsessed with getting their kids top grades and, subsequently, into medical school (which I gather is an undergrad decision in Korea) and what happens when one of the moms hires the world's most ruthless admissions consultant to guide her daughter through to the end. While I wouldn't say it's a satire because it's grounded in real human drama and feelings, it definitely has a heightened vibe to it, like some of the characters border on OTT in how they behave and the show itself goes to some very extreme places as it continues. But really that's the point. It’s talking about how these families, due to cultural, personal, or societal pressure, let a snake in the garden and the horrific consequences of that decision. I'm being vague to avoid spoilering here and, as every episode ends on some kind of cliffhanger, there's plenty to spoiler so I'm not going into the plot too much, but the snake in this case is really one in which the pursuit of external markers of success - grades, job titles, etc. - comes at the expense of internal life and dreams and how dire that choice is. I'm noting the tone because it's present for the entire series so if it's bugging you in the first few episodes, you should probably stop because it's inherent to the way the story is told. All thematic aside, it's a big juicy drama about seemingly small issues - maneuvering for a promotion, romantic competition over a classmate, etc. - which spiral and spiral and spiral into a lot of backstabbing and betrayals and how far people will go to screw each other over and whether or not they'll pull it back before it gets too bad. While the theme itself around competition to get into top colleges may not be new, I thought the way this show did it, packaged into a plot based on a combo of extreme behavior and vicious microaggressions, really allowed the theme to make its point while still being totally entertaining to the end (well, except the final episode, which wasn't bad or anything just unnecessary as the series had wrapped itself up in the penultimate episode and the final one kind of played like an extended epilogue). What can I say, it's a well-written, well-acted drama that's plotty, character-driven, and actually about something oh and really never pulls its punches meaning episode to episode it's not clear how, or if, it's all going to be resolved all of which adds up to a drama that IJHO is totally top-notch.
Wreck (Season 1):
This is a really-bad-yet-I-background-watched-anyway goofy thriller about a guy sneaking onto a cruise line crew in order to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his sister. It's in the wacky/horror vein, like lots of absurd gore and ridiculous behavior combined with sassy characters, boring romantic drama, and quips. I'll put it this way: most of the murders (and there are plenty) are committed by someone wearing a duck costume and all the leads are early 20s. Honestly my reference point for this kind of film is thin because I kind of hate the horror/comedy mashup as it ends up succeeding at neither. Horror (or slasher I guess in this case) is scary because it plays on fears we all have of being in a situation where there's a killer who has it in for us and, being normal non-military-trained types, have few to no options except to run, hide, maybe fight back, maybe come up with a plan, but mostly hope the bad-they dies before we do. I get comedy as release from tension but in these movies the comedy and characters tend to be super broad e.g. hiding from the killer in a dumpster… then emerging covered in gravy! Like I get it: the idea is to pingpong back and forth between scares and release from scares but for me the comedy is generally lame and really only serves to undercut whatever tension was being generated by the horror. Plus absurd horror in general as with Squid Game (review here) and same for this series just becomes boring. A bunch of corpses and blood spurting and people screaming and ridiculous deaths only, for me, highlights that I'm watching nothing remotely real and horror kind of relies on an emotional or amygdala connection to the events. So this show, which I know I've barely described but how much do you need? Boat crew, mean bosses, something going on, lots of teen (though none of them are teens) drama but in a dumb way like where the way we know two characters are meant to be together is via swelling music and the camera pushing in on flirty/smiley eyes as opposed to, say, an actual character connection, and a lot of people behaving like total idiots for plot reasons since the entire show relies on both the good guys and bad guys doing things absolutely no one ever would. To a large extent, I had this problem with Squid Game, like it's one thing to have a few people who are super into murdering strangers, but a crew of 50-100 people who are totally fine with it just pushes credulity, not so much because I don't believe 50-100 people would be willing to murder but rather because I don't think 50-100 psychopaths would be super into respecting hierarchy and, like, not killing their boss when their boss yells at them for screwing up to hardly mention keeping their mouths shut when they go home. Whatever. If young adult horror/comedy is your thing, maybe you'll be into this show, but I thought it was unbearable and left it on mostly because I didn't want to write a review about DNFing it and I didn’t DNF and aren't you all very impressed with me now?
Movies:
Downton Abbey: A New Era - Well the tl;dr here is whatever you've thought of Downton Abbey to date is exactly what you'll think of this movie. For me, while I like the series better than the films for the simple reason that there's a lot more time thus more room for character stuff, I've enjoyed both films because they have that nice soothing Downton-ness where you know whatever minor dramas arise and no matter how outraged any one particular character is, it'll all be fine in the end. In fact what I've liked most about the movies is that guarantee, as in I know exactly what I'm going to get when I watch one and I 100% get what I was promised. The plot of this movie is pure fluff. A film company rents Downton for a bit and there's some ridiculous and delightful bits of drama around the upstairs/downstairs characters being either outraged or charmed by all the lowbrow film people plus a bit of history as the movie and its stars try to adapt to the looming talkie era. Meanwhile there's another plot that involves part of the group going to a villa in France and like who doesn't want to go to a villa in France for some very polite distress around a spoilerable plot issue plus everyone making fun of the French while also kind of being mocked themselves. There is zero new here and everything goes exactly where you expect it which, as noted, is precisely why I watch these movies. Yes, there are some dramatic bits, all of which you can see coming, but that's also part of it. There's something really strange about knowing everything that's going to happen but being absorbed by it anyway and I think it all comes down to the actors in that they've crafted characters where it doesn't matter that I know how it's all going to turn out because I want to watch them, those particular people, turn it out that way. And I think that's probably the main difference between the series and the movies. In the series, I was engaged by the world and the various plots the characters were undergoing plus how those plots spread across the seasons. But I think the movies show that good actors with a clear idea of their characters can make plot somewhat irrelevant as you, the audience, are simply enjoying watching people move through their emotions and thoughts and words and interactions and banter and all that, as it turns out, is enough for me, at least in a world as familiar and comforting - or, if you’re a Downton-hater, insanely boring - as this one.