Gil Grissom, Shooter McGavin and Mr Incredible lead Pacey and Brian O'Conner into the Kingdom of the Secret Skull

 Nothing I write here is going to make me happier than the title of this post. In case you didn't figure out the references to a 26 year old middling movie, I watched The Skulls. It stars Joshua Jackson and Paul Walker and also has Leslie Bibb, Craig T Nelson, William Peterson, and Christopher McDonald. Quite the cast for a teen political/elitist thriller. 

Exceptional, but poor, Luke (Joshua Jackson) works a ton of part time jobs in order to go to Yale, and through this overwhelming abilities he's recruited to the vaunted Skull and Bones Yale secret society. This is the pathway to influence and wealth, at least by urban legend. Of course the society is nefarious and Luke has to choose between the future the Skulls "offer" and the ethics and true friends he could leave behind. 

There's a scene that starts with Creed's Higher that highlights the "glory" the Skulls have to offer, like women (ahhhhh, misogyny) cars, yachts, etc. Of course Luke's friend is investigating the Skulls and is found out and made to look like it's a suicide. The white male society circles the wagons and who will Luke side with?

Honestly the best part of this movie is when Leslie Bibb is running, for once they got an actress that it doesn't look outrageous that she could outrun some men. She could pretty easily out run a couple out of shape middle-aged men (I'm looking at you Shooter). 

There are two direct to video sequels, I was going to watch those as well, but they're not really available for free and I'm certainly not going to pay for them. The first wasn't that good.

3/10

Since The Skulls 2&3 weren't easy to find I looked across the pond for The Riot Club and to see another, perfectly innocent university secret society doing nothing wrong. This one felt a bit more realistic than The Skulls for sure. The stakes are lower, the insanity a bit more realistic and the biggest issue the complete stupidity of young spoiled men. Sam Claflin is in this one, an actor I believe is highly underrated. You still have to face the ultimate choice of what is the price of your morality. This is more difficult to watch as it's more a critique of the innate exploitation of such a misogynistic club. 

A bit more posh and classist, much akin to most British shows/movies. Man inherited wealth is grand ain't it? This is a much more human, better in almost every way movie. This is one that I appreciated watching but I'll never watch it again. 

7/10

April Was Sneakily a Readathon

 This was supposed to be a slower reading month, but once again I went a big crazy with reading. While I didn't finish the most books of the month for 2026 yet, I did read the most pages! That's just a lot! Honestly, the wife and I have picked up our listening to an audiobook before bed and it has made a huge difference for us.

The first book I finished was mostly read in March but I just couldn't get the last bit done. I found the 1995 X-Com: UFO Defense novel by Diane Duane on eBay and just loved biting my teeth into more of this video game lore! It's the oldest of the X-Com books by far and is attached to the original PC game but a lot of the world is the same as the newer Enemy Unknown universe. I believe I've finished all of the related novels now, and one of the graphic novels too. This was probably the best written, and the easiest to connect to the characters within. It was an interesting dive for sure.

7/10

I also finished Wilderness Reform by Harrison Query and Matt Query. This is the tale of a group of teens sent to a reform camp in Montana. We follow Ben through this change in his life. It could have easily fallen into the "Look how much smarter the teen is than the adults" trope that is common in YA books, but this one makes it feel a bit more realized. Ben is from Louisiana, and is woefully undereducated, but that doesn't mean he's not smart. He has just learned how to utilize his intelligence in ways to keep his brother and him safe from the horrible conditions he's been left in. Unfortunately this leads to his eventual arrest and being sent to a reform camp in Montana that is not what it seems. There a satisfying connection here and I liked this book quite a bit.

7.5/10

I followed this up with a pair of pulp/cozy tales. They were both easy listens and were quite enjoyable in their own ways. Advent by Seth Ring is my 3rd serious try into the LitRPG world and it might be my favorite. It's not as comedic and over the top as Dungeon Crawler Carl, but it feels a bit more grounded and the world is very interesting and one that I will be diving into further. I also listened to The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra by Vaseem Khan. This Mumbai based cozy detective story is the first of the Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation series. It's a forcefully
retired Police Inspector gets caught up in a murder case and has to go it on his own (kind of, he still has some police connections and the help of his newly inherited baby elephant, yup seriously) to help out a family that does not have the standing (money) to make the Police listen to them. It was nothing super special but enjoyable nonetheless.

8/10

6.5/10

The wife and I started one story, that was not very good so only I finished it, kinda out of spite, I have DNF'ing, more than anything. It was the newly released The Escape Game by Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss. This was another reality show goes wrong and people die story. It's the worst of them all so far. The premise is a competition show based around teams solving escape rooms as fast as possible. But the corruption, greed, selfishness, and creepy sexual deviancy involved makes this season one to be remembered. You switch views between characters a bit too much and the twist doesn't feel earned enough to be honest. I really need to fix my DNF aversion.

5/10

The wife and I then listened to two really good books this month though as well! The newest in the US Steve Cavanagh book Two Kinds of Stranger is the next in his Eddie Flynn series, and while it was not his best, it kept us entertained and we're coming back to him once the next in the series is released. Honestly, I'd be all about a book in this series that is just about Block. She's my favorite of them all. We then listened to the best of the month, Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera. This was a very good listen as it is a fictional true crime podcast going back to solve a murder and these sequences between the "podcast episodes" and the rest of the narrative has music and multiple narrators for interviews, it makes it feel more authentic. The ending is satisfying if not completely foreseeable. We enjoyed this book thoroughly and recommend it to all.

6/10

9/10

The last of the month was a surprise read for me. My local book store had an emergency so they needed someone to fill in for one of their book clubs, and I'm the lucky guy! The book is Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky and it is the second of his books that I've read now and I'm starting to become a fan. While I think I read his best for me book first (Service Model is a masterpiece and everyone should read it) this one is a great story and is a bit more depressing than I usually prefer, it was engaging enough that I had no problem getting through it and I enjoyed it by the end. If you have read Shroud and want more like it, I can't speak of the other Tchaikovsky books, but the David Wellington The Last Astronaut is on the same vein and was very good as well. Now I just need to finish my non-fiction book I put aside to get this done in time.

8/10

Cathay Williams makes everyone else seem small

I recently watched the historically inspired, but wholly fictional The Harder They Fall (2021). I am a fan of westerns and this one got me interested, but Jonathan Majors is a real life horrible person so I avoided it. Watching They Will Kill You with Zazie Beetz, brought me back to it. I decided to give it a shot after all, and I'm glad I did. Everyone in this movie shines, and most are significantly better than Majors. The biggest standout is Danielle Deadwyler, who plays Cuffee, inspired by Cathay Williams. Add in Zazie Beetz, who play the real life Stagecoach Mary and Regina King who plays the fictional Trudy Smith and you have three very strong women who stand out in this film. Cuffee is the best character in the film, in my opinion, and Danielle does an amazing job as her. I can recommend this movie to all because of it, the inclusion of majors notwithstanding.

Coincidentally, I happened upon the western Surrounded (2023) on Tubi as a movie that was leaving soon. The Harder They Fall created a bigger itch for another western and this one looked interesting so I decided to give it a shot. I had no idea that Cathay Williams inspired yet another character in Mo Williams in this film. This time Letitia Wright (most know her as Shuri from Black Panther) plays "Cathay," and the role is more significant as it's the main character. It is just as impactful as the previous iteration and just make you like the character even more. 

All of this to say, I learned who Cathay Williams was, but certainly not enough about her to really talk about this amazing woman. I have order a biography on her and will be reading it later this year. I wholeheartedly encourage anyone else out there to look up these movies, and see if they amaze you like they did me. If not, you're, at worst, watching two good westerns. 

I will give the warning that they are violent, They Harder They Fall more so, but not as bad as many other action/horror films out there. 

They Will Kill You

 Introduce Zazie Beetz as a bad ass with a sad backstory on a quest to find/save/avenge her sister and add in a mix of Heather Graham, Tom Felton and Patricia Arquette as key member of a satanic cult who cannot be killed and you get They Will Kill You. Weirdly this movie came out the same time as a similarly themed Ready or Not 2: Here I Come. While I haven't yet seen RoN2 yet, They Will Kill You was my most anticipated movie of the year. I really like cult movies and a killer heroine only makes that better. 

Zazie Beetz is awesome as Asia Reaves and shines in the action scenes, that are truly the highlight of the movie. There isn't too much to dig into here, and it does an effective job of making this tiny snippet of the world feel "real." The acting is a bit over the top, but that's not entirely a bad thing in a movie like this. There is a scene that truly gives you the ick, men really suck, but it doesn't last too long and there's hell to pay for the act. Honestly this is not the best movie I've seen this year, not even close, but it was entertaining enough and I will buy it (when it goes on sale, I don't buy anything full price anymore). If you're interested in it at all, give it a watch at some point, it's well done. If you want something similar and probably better the first Ready or Not and Gunpowder Milkshake are both objectively better.

7/10

Close Encounters of a Hail Mary

 So the whole family went to see Project Hail Mary and we loved it. It was a darn near perfect movie (I know Rish, the book is better and it makes the movie a disappointment but as I haven't read it yet I cannot comment). It brought back the sense of wonder and awe into a movie and it really is one that deserves to be seen on the big screen. I encourage everyone to go see it! It's even more amazing to learn how little CGI and how much practical effects were used. The more I learn about the movie the more I appreciate it. Lord and Miller knocked it out of the park and Ryan Gosling is a much better actor than I thought.

9.5/10

Of course it made me think of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, even before the tip of the hat to the tune. So I had to rewatch that movie too and I finally saw the director's cut of it. While it has aged a bit, overall it holds up so well. I always preferred it to ET, and its probably more the ongoing sense of something wrong is going on that I like. I will say though that Richard Dreyfuss's Roy Neary is a total @$$. He only wants to play or have his kids do what he wants, not actually parent them, putting that on his wife. His irrational obsession on the aliens, whic
h isn't all his fault as shown by the others in the same obsessive state, further drives his wife from him, not that she needed much more of a push. Roy has much more of a connection with Jillian Guiler, a fellow alien experiencer and actually seems to care for her, unlike any emotion shown to his wife. At the end *SPOILER* Roy has no hesitation to join the aliens, and doesn't even think about HIS FAMILY AND CHILDREN!!! This is not just tied to the alien influence as Jillian does crave to go with the aliens as she is more about her child and being with him, you know, like a LOVING PARENT!! All this doesn't take away from an awesome story about contact with aliens, it's just too bad that this part of the movie hasn't aged well, although it's not a unique way to have a man view his family from this time period.

8/10

Both of these movies have such a sense of wonder, amazement and hope. It something that is finally returning to stories it feels like after the morally gray and dark stories we've had lately. I can go for more of this!!!

Marching my way through some pages.

It was a busy end of March/start of April so this post is a little later than expected. But I read so much in March. It was more than expected for sure! Travelling around and spring cleaning really help me listen to more audiobooks.

I read my third reality show in a secluded area goes wrong book. We Won't All Survive by Kate Alice Marshall was the best of the bunch so far. It wasn't the best written (One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware) or have the best twist (How Bad Things Can Get by Darcy Coates) but it was the most satisfying. Coates' book was a bit too gory/violent for my tastes. And Ware's just fell flat. Marshall's was the most entertaining, even if it was ridiculous.

7/10

I finished Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman at the very start of the month, just in time for a bookclub. I will say that it was one of the better audiobooks I've listened to, and it was heaps better than any LitRPG books I've listened to up to this point. If you're interested in the series at all it's worth it. I don't know that I'll continue with it though, it's not completely my bag, even as entertaining it as it is.

8/10

The wife and I listened to several books this month and they were almost all decent. There was The Rush by Michelle Prak, Anatomy of an Alibi by Ashley Elston, and Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh. The Rush was an Australian thriller and it was the best of the bunch if terrifying. Cavanagh's book was the first we've listened to that wasn't part of his Eddie Flynn series. It was thrilling, but left you unsure how to feel about things at the end. Anatomy of an Alibi had potential but felt flat by the end. It wasn't an awful but just didn't hit the way you'd hope.

8/10

8/10

5/10

I read the next in The Expanse series, Persepolis Rising by James SA Corey. This was a darn hear perfect addition to the series. I don't understand how such massive tomes can be so engrossing and move so fast. The pacing is perfect. Bobby is a total badass and this book represents it better than any other. I cannot recommend this series any more and this is the start of the last three that the show didn't cover.

9.5/10

The last two books were both a bit of comfort reads after the intensity that James SA Corey brings to the table. I listened to Countess by Suzan Palumbo which is a sci-fi Caribbean inspired Count of Monte Cristo retelling. It was interesting and worth a read, if not as good as the original work. I followed it up with book five in the Fred the Vampire Accountant series, Deadly Assessments by Drew Hayes. This series is amazing pulp joy. It's a found family series and has good humor and makes you really care about so many characters. It's the perfect relaxing comfort food to offset the intensity of The Expanse.

6.5/10

8/10

Dudley Dursley has certainly grown all the way up!

I recently watched two very good movies, The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) and The Pale Blue Eye. Besides being period pieces adaptations, they both had a different link. Harry Melling, best know as Dudley Dursley from the Harry Potter movies. It was a bit odd to see him as he looks quite different now (understandably as he's grown up from the young man from the Harry Potter films). He still looked familiar to me though so it was easy to look him up find out who he was.

To move on to the movies now. Let's start with The Tragedy of Macbeth. This is an adaptation from Joel Coen, one half of the Coen Brothers, who worked alone for the first time to make this Shakespeare adaptation. Denzel Washington is the titular character and Frances McDormand is the infamous Lady Macbeth. I heard this was a pretty accurate portrayal of Macbeth's fighting prowess and I will say I believe it followed through with that very well. It's a good adaptation of the play and you really feel sympathy and then disgust and hatred for Macbeth in it. All the roles are well cast and the actors do wonderful jobs. It is thoroughly atmospheric and increasingly claustrophobic. While not exactly enjoyable, such as Macbeth is, this is a very good adaptation and makes me want to see more Denzel in Shakespeare roles. Gotta rewatch Much Ado About Nothing now...

8/10

The second Harry Melling film I watch, had him in a significantly larger role. The Pale Blue Eye is a fictional story about a young Poe who was a cadet at  West Point (truthfully!!) getting caught up in the seemingly ritualistic murders of some of his fellow cadets. Harry plays Poe very well and Christian Bale is Augustus Landor, the retired copper who's brought in to solve the crimes. It's a good mystery and the acting is top notch. This is really a good gothic thriller and worth a watch, if not really one that I will really look at watching again. I'm always game for anything Poe and they do try to show where some of the experiences in the movie could have inspired Poe's creativity and works. Fictionally of course as this is nowhere near a true story.

7/10

I did like Harry Melling in both of these films and will not be surprised to see him in more films later or, or be pleased with his performance, he certainly is so much more than that brat from the HP films.

I Consume Things From Some Lands Down Under

Somehow I fell into the world of Kiwi and Aussie crime. I think it started with lockdown and my internet not being the best while I worked from home. So I got DVD's from the library and fell into The Brokenwood Mysteries. It scratched a similar itch to Midsommer Murders and allowed me to work while having the show on to the side mostly listening to it and turning to watch only periodically. I love the way those mystery shows work like that for me. Anyway, Brokenwood is a fantastic little mystery show that has a fun cast of characters, intriguing mysteries and a beautiful setting. 

After this jaunt to New Zealand I searched for more of the like, and landed in Australia and the shows Troppo and Deadloch. While they both are fantastic mysteries, they hit different. Troppo is much more serious and dramatic with characters that aren't easy to love but you end up there anyway. Deadloch is a more comedic opposite partners trying to figure out the crime and how to work together, not to say it's not serious and violent at times, it is, but overall it has a bit of a sense of humor to it.

Then I went to books and found The Echo of Others and The Long Game by Simon Rowell. The first was a very good cold case style mystery that will make you thing about becoming a vegetarian. The second is the first in a series that just doesn't quite hit as well. It's good enough but probably not enough for me to continue the series.

Then I went to Red Dirt Road by S.R. White. This is much more of an isolated in the Outback mystery that really stops to freak you out and build tension with a very small group of suspects. It's in the middle of a series, but I didn't know that at the time and it stands alone very well and I will be reading further in the series for sure.

I then fell into Benjamin Stevenson's Ernest Cunningham Series. This is such an amazing group of books, starting with Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone. While the other 2 that are currently out are not as good, they are still fantastic reads of their own. The third is coming out in a couple weeks and I already have preordered it!

I still have a few more, Mystery Road started a a movie about a Aboriginal copper who fights back against corruption and racism in his town. It's a little slow moving and stylist
ically not what Hollywood would make, but the story is great and the characters you really feel for. The second movie Goldstone isn't as good but it was still enough for me to continue with the TV show shortly.

My bookclub had someone interested in cults and so they had us read Daughter of Gloriavale. This true memoir of a woman's life in the New Zealand religious cult of Gloriavale is a rough read. While the cult isn't as horrible as some you have heard of, there was certainly many abuses of the members, especially women/children, and racism that comes to play as well. It's a sad tale with the happy ending of freedom from the cult by Lilia Tarawa. 

Finally, the wife and I are listening to Michele Prak's The Rush. This is a tension building natural disaster book where the question of what's worse the natural disaster or men? and even though I am one, and I try not to use strong language on here very much, this book makes me want to just say FUCK MEN, they just SUCK!!!!!

I'm sure this is not the end of my expeditions to the other side of the world, and I'll probably be talking about more of them soon!

Kelly Macdonald and how Princess Merida walked to Gosford Park, solved a Puzzle went back to Dept. Q then looked in a Black Mirror and became a Radley

 

For many years now I've been a fan of Kelly Macdonald. She's been pretty amazing in everything I've seen her in. I recently watched Dept Q and it started me on the path to watch several of her productions. This is a brief review of several of these.

Dept. Q: This is a Scottish police procedural with some crossing of lines and some serious implications. It's tough not to root for the damaged main character as, even though he's an ass and he breaks the law as an entitled copper, he's also pretty good at solving crimes and getting to the root of things. This is a found family group of misfits that come together to be truly greater than their parts. Kelly plays a headshrinker in this one, and although she's not in it very much, she does make a lasting impression. Although everyone does a great job, Leah Byrne as DC Rose Dickson is the true standout for me. She's kinda like Tilly in Star Trek Discovery, and it's not just because of the hair.

7/10 because I'm tired of police not following the rules and getting away with it

Brave: How can you mention Ms. Macdonald and not acknowledge her amazing voicework as Merida. She's just the best in this role and her emotion and strength really come through with just her voice. A everlasting tale about family, expectations, and familial love.

9/10 Almost freaking perfect!

Puzzle: There's a whole movie about jigsaw puzzles and the competitive world they inspire?!?!? Yup. And it's a tough one for me to decide how I feel about it. There's a borderline sweet love story here, but it also deals with infidelity and I'm not forgiving about that. The actors do a great job, but it's tough to root for people that are cheaters.

3/10 Not a bad movie, but not for me.

Black Mirror - Hated in the Nation: A longer episode of the provocative series, Kelly is the focus here. As a detective that investigates how new technology is leading to/causing deaths. We really need to take care of the bees! I wish we saw more of these types of episodes from the series, but I'll take what we got and enjoy.

8/10 sadly predictive of where it feels like things are headed in many ways.

The Radleys: This is based on a book, of the same name, and is about Vampires who don't drink blood, dealing with their teenagers who do not have the same level of self control. It's an interesting take on vampires and the family dynamic. Has another cheating scene in it which made it less enjoyable for me. If people (vampires) just talked there would probably be less cheating and more happy marriages. Well acted and tense but with some parts that keep me from completely enjoying it.

4/10 darn it. I just can't enjoy a movie where cheating plays a big role.

Gosford Park: I originally saw this Robert Altman directed beauty all by my lonesome in theatres. Man was I glad I did. It's a combination of Upstairs Downstairs and the traditional English whodunit, with the bumbling copper and the intelligent downstairs help that truly knows what's going on. Altman had a magic touch with figuring out how to make overlapping conversations sound natural and still allow us the audience to focus on particular parts of them to pull out the messages. This movie deserves multiple viewings, like all of Altman's work, and I'm glad I watched it again.

8/10 maybe a little dry for some, but as a lover of many British tv shows and movies it's great!