Book Review – Totally Chaotic History: Roman Britain Gets Rowdy

Totally Chaotic History: Roman Britain Gets Rowdy! by Greg Jenner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Chaotic indeed, and not just the subject matter. The text flow here is full of static, including frequent interruptions not just for graphics and sidebars but also notes and exchanges between the author and the “expert interruptions.” But because those interruptions are written by Emma Southon – the reason I picked this up to begin with – I won’t complain about them. Overall this is a good if occasionally silly way to learn about the history of the Roman empire’s far northwest edge.

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Review – Werewolves Within

The time-honored tradition of making terrible movies based on video games continues. This time the source was a game I’ve never heard of and definitely won’t be seeking out. Sitcom B-listers do their best to make the sitcom script seem quirky rather than juvenile. But there just isn’t enough story here to last for anything near the running time. Particularly annoying was the “who’s the werewolf?” trope, a question that was rendered almost completely moot by the high casualty rate prior to the lycanthrope’s only actual onscreen appearance late in the movie. See if desperate

Book Review – Good-Bye to All That

Good-Bye to All That: An Autobiography by Robert Graves
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Robert Graves, poet and author of I, Claudius, delves into autobiography. The bulk of his tale is devoted to his experiences in the First World War, a subject he treats with unflinching frankness and wry wit. His accounts of service as an officer in the trenches of the western front are a must-read for anyone interested in the history of the war. Thus I felt particularly let down by the last 50 pages or so, which he devotes to his post-war life of dull domesticity and service as a teacher in Cairo (prompting considerable condescension to the locals). The text is also peppered with British-isms, many of which aren’t covered by the brief glossary at the beginning of this edition, and by occasional lapses into other languages. That notwithstanding, this is a well-written account of an important period in a remarkable life.

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Review – 15 Minutes of Shame

Monica Lewinsky narrates this exploration of the often-disastrous consequences of unintentionally getting caught up in controversies, especially in the age of social media. The production provides excellent background information about how the system works. My sole misgiving about this is that the case studies seemed oddly off point. The first guy was making money reselling on Amazon, a pastime he might easily have avoided, especially when it drew him into the middle of the hoarding and profiteering scandals of the COVID pandemic. The second subject tells a better story, the only problem being that he would likely have told the same story as a cover if he’d been malicious rather than careless. The final example – and the saddest of the three – was in fact minding her own business when she ended up in the crosshairs of internet scum. But she wasn’t being shamed for anything. She was being attacked for being Black, which was both true and not shameful. Though I appreciated the information and analysis, I’d love to see this remade with a different set of demonstrations. Mildly amusing

Review – The Exorcism

 When did horror movies turn so damn mopey? Probably around the same time a casting call for “corpulent and dull” got the attention of Russel Crowe’s agent. This is a fictionalized “making of” adaptation of The Exorcist, with scary replaced by strange. For example, the protagonist horrifies his long-suffering 16-year-old daughter (played by 25-year-old Ryan Simpkins) by pulling a Verne Troyer in the lobby of their apartment building. Is he possessed by a demon? Has he fallen off the wagon? Is he gripped by PTSD from being molested by a priest as a child? After an hour and a half of this, I honestly didn’t care. See if desperate

Review – The 800

Action movie meets propaganda picture in this telling of the Thermopylae-esque tale of Chinese resistance to the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in 1937. A small cadre of (mostly) brave soldiers fight the cruel, relentless enemy for possession of a factory, gradually winning support from the residents of the British protectorate across the river. Though the storytelling is ham-handed, production values are high and slow points are rare. Mildly amusing

Book Review – Art of Atari

Art Of Atari by Tim Lapetino
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When video games first hit the market – especially via consoles for home use – their marketing was almost as important as their technology. Often the games themselves were so rudimentary that they weren’t much fun without adding a little imagination. Pictures in ads and on boxes supplied the visual storytelling that could transform a handful of blocky pixels moving around on a screen into space battles, Olympic sports, and a host of other engaging pursuits. Thus the title subject is a particularly interesting point in the history of art and tech, given Atari’s creation of the 2600 cartridge-based game system (among other key moments in the early years of video gaming). Though the pictures are naturally the stars of the show, the text also supplies good background information. I admit I would have liked more specificity about dates and fewer passages devoted to corporate roll calls. Those small problems aside, this is an excellent presentation of the images that made the games worth playing.

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Review – Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

I made the mistake of watching this back to back with the original, which served to accent the utter charmlessness of the sequel. Rather than a cohesive story, this is more of an assemblage of inside jokes and other sub-references. Typical of the experience is the musical number: Harry Belafonte gives way to an awkwardly-choreographed and far too long lip sync to “MacArthur Park.” Between the odd bits of improv and dancing around absent cast members from the first one, there just isn’t enough to make this entertaining. See if desperate

Book Review – Strange Weather

Strange Weather by Joe Hill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This collection of four novellas gets off to a reasonably good start, but it goes downhill from there. Though there wasn’t much to “Snapshot,” it was entertaining enough (other than the protagonist’s weight-based self loathing). “Loaded” was absolutely not what I needed to read in the wake of the 2024 elections. “Aloft,” though the opposite of its predecessor in many ways, was also hard to get through. I’d previously read the graphic novel adaptation of “Rain” (lured in by Zoe Thorogood’s art), but I decided to give it a try anyway. When I got to the part about the dying cat, I called it done. Also though I feel it’s unfair to critique Hill’s work by comparing it to his dad’s writing, the structural similarities between this and Different Seasons are a little hard to ignore.

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Review – Chiefsaholic

Xaviar Babudar had it all: a fanatical love of the Kansas City Chiefs, an active social media presence, a powerful passion for high stakes gambling, and a willingness to rob banks to fund his habits. Stir in a bail jump followed by a cross-country chase, and you’ve got enough for a two hour documentary, more or less. Mildly amusing

Book Review – Napoleon’s Hemorrhoids

Napoleon's Hemorrhoids: ... and Other Small Events That Changed History by Phil Mason
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As quirky, bite-sized histories go, this one’s reasonably good. The perspective is British, which US-based readers may find a bit parochial in the chapters on politics and sports. And here and there entries depend more heavily on rumor than established historical fact. Still, it’s a fun read about moments in which relatively small events led to much larger consequences.

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Review – Mascots

I almost skipped this one, in part because I’m not currently a Netflix subscriber and in part because I’ve been unimpressed by the trajectory of Christopher Guest’s ensemble comedies. For Your Consideration was bad enough to make me swear off further efforts, but the assurances of someone I trust led me to give this one a try. I’m glad I did. This returns to the plot structure of Best in Show, only this time focusing on a sports mascot competition. The outre subject leads to some delightfully bizarre moments, and the cast doesn’t disappoint. Worth seeing