August 3rd - August 9th 2026

Movies

• The Devil Wears Prada 2 | David Frankel - Oof. The scene where Miranda gives it to Emily really captured the magic of the first film. Overall, it’s a fine film. I would be lying if Stanley Tucci’s “forever my girl” line didn’t make a teary eyed. It was never terribly cringe, though the presence of content creators did piss me off. The bar to make this movie enjoyable, not destroy the first film, and not be an out-of-touch millenial cringe fest is high, and I think it clears that bar. I think Emily and Andi coming together feels pretty authentic and not too forced. The commentary on journalism being destroyed by venture capital was a nice touch. The HR-ification of Miranda felt real, even if the office politics failed to meet her there. Miranda is a powerful woman and this movie struggled to get her character right consistently. When she is being beaten down, it should feel like it. It should feel like shame, like seeing your hero bested, but it usually fell flat. But, Meryl Streep-ed the game and the old-school Miranda moments came through. Her ability to eviscerate someone was hit or miss, but the moments when she would praise or acknowledge someone felt just like the 2000s again. The only thing the soundly pissed me off was Andi’s romance. Her boyfriend in the first film was a nice mirror. It showed that she was changing, and growing. That her values and ethics were meeting the demands of Miranda. She couldn’t be with him because he was shitty and small, and she needed to be independent. The whole romance stuff feels forced and painful to watch. It doesn’t fit the theme of the movie, or the first film, it feels like a remnant of an ideal that never existed. The man is also completely vanilla. There is no substance and no charisma. It could have been removed and had no, or positive, effect on the film. Also, Andi giving the whole “you don’t need a man” speech is soooo ironic. Regardless, I thought this was worth watching.
• Mortal Kombat II 2026 | Simon McQuoid - I am a sucker for shitty 80s and 90s action movies, especially if they’re video game themed. They’re always awful, but with sparks of something authentic and innovative. Kind of like porn. The heart is in the right place, but the budget and on-the-fly decisions tend to make it feel soooooo cheap by the end. And I love it. When Mortal Kombat, the reboot, came out in 2021 it had been over twenty years since Mortal Kombat (1995) and Mortal Kombat Annihilation (1997), so I didn’t have strong feelings, thought I knew I would go see it quick as I could. I remember watching it soon after release fondly. Feeling like it found a good balance between cheesy, over-the-top video game movie (we get it, it’s a video game) feel and trying to tell a real story about characters with a g-string’s worth of lore. So, I felt pretty good coming into Mortal Kombat II. I have to say this one was much more a let down. Which sucks, because there are scenes from this movie that knock it out of the park. Kung Lao and Liu Kang’s fight really hit that sweetspot of recreating the magic of the video game with really excellent 2D-imitations of signature moves, and importantly the movement of the game itself. Then, there are basically all the other fights. Jax and all the women had such shit fights. It felt like they were moving in slow-mo and they weren’t in Mortal Kombat. The pacing was so off in this film. Like, we kinda just jump right into the fights raw. So, it’s hard to give a shit about them, especially if they aren’t well choreographed. More than anything, if this film was going to build upon the first, it should have slowed the pacing. You couldn’t get into the world or its characters because you are just blasting around different realms over and over, and there is a death or resurrection every few minutes it feels like. Yet, in between all of that is a lot of good stuff. I, surprisingly, found the Johnny Cage retribution fairly compelling. The actor played Cage well, but physically was completely unconvincing. They did get their LotR reference in for good ol’ Eomir, so at least that happened. There were lines of dialogue from Johnny Cage and, wtf, from Kano that I did find myself laughing at. It brought some of that, “oh yeah, this is a ridiculous movie if we let it be energy” which never got out of hand. Overall, it was pretty lackluster with a few shining moments. If they make a third, they need to figure out the voice of this film.

Books/Manga

• The Moon on a Rainy Night | Volume 4 | Kuzushiro - Finally! Finally a volume of this manga that’s just good, clean yuri. The Tomika arc is put on hold, and Saki and Kanon can find themselves and reflect on each other. It’s really beautiful seeing someone so hard-headed and independent find that moment to herself where she realizes what Saki means to her. It’s sweet and only lasts a moment but is expressed quite well. It’s equally as nice to have Saki in her own world with her own problems. It’s good for her, and it’s good for both of them. I can’t wait to read Volume 5 cause I know the shit is gonna hit the fan.
• Super Nintendo: The Game-changing Company That Unlocked the Power of Play | Keza MacDonald - Not too far through, but a good historical look at gaming’s most elusive giant.

YouTube

• SOUTH ARCADE live in The K! Pit (tiny dive bar show) | KERRANG! - One of my favorite bands doing something super rad!
• The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask Blindfolded by Bubzia in 52:20 - Awesome Games Done Quick 2026 - Just an insane speedrun with someone the community so deeply respects. You can feel the build-up to this particular run on stage and, not the spoil, but there is a potential run ending issue and you have to watch to see the ending!!

Games

• Pacific Drive | Ironwood Studios | 2024 - I played the first hour, which is most of the tutorial. Full transparency, I looked on Reddit if this game would be too scary for me and for those who need to know it sounds like primarily vibes-based horror so I felt pretty comfy diving in. The tutorial was great! I liked the voice-acting and world-building. The little quirks of personality that come with the paranormal is a nice touch. I did try to jump back in for the first proper mission and fell off pretty hard. I get that this is survival (yes) horror (light) but it took me too long to figure out how to get to where I needed to go and I busted up my car because the driving is, I think intentionally, clunky. So, I had to reset my save and go again. I don’t want to play this game if it’s going to require save scumming. I may throw on the “story” type difficulty like I did at the end of Prey, but I imagine on survival element may make the game pointless. Overall, I think there were too many moments of indie game jank that felt unintentional and frictional in a way that wasn’t fun. TBD on if I drop this or not.
• The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds | Nintendo | 2013 - Done! Write up coming soon.
• Pokemon Blue Version | Game Freak | 1996 - So, I am two weeks-ish into the Nuzlocke and more than anything I feel confident in how good this game is. I wasn’t sure, and I was scared to go back and find out one of my all-timer nostalgia game didn’t have the juice I remembered, but damn it’s so good. Yes, it’s annoying to play at times with the walking and slowness, but this game isn’t great for it’s core mechanics (they changed so much of them for the best in the next game) but because it’s fucking weird. This game makes so many weird world-building, narrative, and design choices that feel foreign and novel even today. I think the lo-fidelity makes me appreciate and see the quirks more clearly. Fuck this game is so weird and so fun.
• Halo: Campaign Evolved | Halo Studios | 2026 - It’s here! This is a special oen for me because I attended Halo Fest for the first time in 2025 and I got the play the preview of The Silent Cartographer, so this is the full game! Also, Halo: CE was one of the first proper video games I ever played, up there with Super Mario World and Diablo II. I have been a Halo fan since day one and I can remember hours and hours of Halo: CE lan parties and Blood Gulch massacres in which my sister and I were trounced by our older brother. I remember ripping a copy on a USB drive and doing lan parties in class with my friends. The Halo: CE logo popping up on 20 computers to the chagrin of our teacher. I have a Halo poster signed by the devs hanging in my apartment. I’ve read most of the books. All that said, Halo: CE was never a campaign I replayed too much or even LASO’d and I don’t know if this is age or my detox from almost exclusively playing violent video games in my youth, but it’s not my favorite game anymore. And that’s okay! I got a huge kick playing through the first half of the game with my girlfriend and reliving the pure joy of pushing her off a ledge when she came back from the bathroom or playing with the Bandana Skull and causing absolute havoc. We laughed so much and it made it worth the price of entry. Also, if you’re on PC and you were super pissed that you couldn’t play couch co-op, there is a mod you can install through Nexus which let’s you do that! I think they are patching this in eventually, but there’s no way I would be playing Halo anywhere but on a couch with a friend or loved one.
• Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade | Square-Enix | 2021 - Done! Write-up coming soon.