My Recent Media Diet, the Resistance Edition
Well, it’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these but I’m gonna skip the apologies and get right into it. Here’s a list of what I’ve been reading, watching, listening to, and experiencing over the past several months. Let us know what movies, books, art, TV, music, etc. you’ve been enjoying in the comments below!
Dinosaur. It’s a huge pigeon on the High Line — what else do you need to know? (A-)
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley. Entertaining and engaging. It’ll make a good TV series. (B+)
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. I hadn’t seen this in several years but I still knew all the words. (A-)
My Brilliant Friend (season four). If there’s one thing I’ve watched in the past several years that I wish had gotten more attention from viewers, critics, and awards panels, it’s this wonderful show. (A+)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow might be the most perfectly cast role in the history of cinema. Great story too. This movie surprised me when I saw it in the theater in 2003 and it’s still in the top tier of action/adventure movies. (A)
Andor (season one). A rewatch to prep for season two. I didn’t understand what the fuss was about this show the first time around, but this second viewing was a revelation. Andor is easily the best Star Wars thing since Empire. (A+)
Galleria Borghese. As previously discussed, the Bernini sculptures were a highlight of the summer. (A+)
Caravaggio 2025. Fantastic exhibition. (A)
The vivid blue color of the Mediterranean. (A+)
La Vita è Un Mozzico. We waited for an hour for sandwiches and it was probably worth it? (A)
Black Doves. British spy thriller? Keira Knightley? Ben Whishaw? Twist my arm. (B+)
Captain America: Brave New World. I’m sorry Sam Wilson / Anthony Mackie, there’s a “we have the Avengers at home” vibe here that’s hard to shake. (B)
Music to Refine To: A Remix Companion to Severance. I love this album; one of my favorite things of the past several months. (A+)
Mickey 17. It was fine? I was distracted while watching it in the theater, which is never a good sign. My favorite Bong Joon Ho film is still Snowpiercer. (B)
Amy Sherald: American Sublime. Absolutely fantastic. (A+)
The French Dispatch. This has quietly become a favorite of mine among Anderson’s films. (A)
The Royal Tenenbaums. However, this is still my favorite. (A+)
Paris Is Burning. Classic documentary of a bygone NYC era & a subculture that is now both flourishing and threatened. (A-)
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (season two). I love these characters, always the sign of a good Trek. The crossover episode with Lower Decks was delightful even though I’ve not watched any of the animated series yet. The musical episode I liked less (not a showtunes guy) but I appreciated the experimentation. Bring on the Muppet episode. (A)
Severance (season two). Perhaps not as good as the first season — there was a lot in the mid-season episodes that didn’t land for me. Still, I always watched when a new episode dropped. (A-)
Army of Shadows. Part of the unplanned resistance film festival I’ve been screening for myself recently. Not quite as good as I remembered it, but it’s nice to watch something that doesn’t just lay everything out on a platter for you so you can emote properly. (A-)
Best in Show. So many lines from this that I use in my daily life. (A-)
The 99% Invisible Breakdown: The Power Broker. This is such a good series with fantastic guests about a legendary book. Who knew that Roman Mars was such a gigglepuss though? (A)
Johnny English. I didn’t find this quite as delightful as my family does. I prefer Mr. Bean. (B+)
Paddington in Peru. Not quite the magic of the first two, but entertaining. (B)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I have likely said this before, but while Raiders is likely the best Indy movie, Last Crusade is my favorite (probably due to Tom Stoppard’s heavy rewrite of the script). (A+)
Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi. It’s interesting to watch the original trilogy having seen so many subsequent movies & TV series.
Ocean’s Twelve. The dancing lasers scene is completely ridiculous. (A)
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. Well, I wasn’t expecting a critique of AI and the role of technology in society from this animated feature, but maybe I should have? (B+)
A Complete Unknown. Liked this more than I thought I would. (A-)
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Just a wonderful book — witty and fun. (A)
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Fantastic book. Listen to the audiobook version if you can — Scott Brick’s narration elevates the story. (A)
A Quiet Place: Day One. I only watched this because I was on a plane. (B)
Severance (season one). After watching the second season, I rewatched season one. There was apparently much I missed the first time around. (A-)
Black Bag. Soderbergh is always worth watching, especially when he dips into Ocean’s Eleven territory — although this was more serious. (A-)
A Minecraft Movie. The first half was tolerable, enjoyable even. And then not so much. (C+)
Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Watched this in the theater for the 20th anniversary. There are some good bits in here, but some of the acting really stinks. Folks in the theater cheered when Anakin slaughtered the younglings, which is probably some sort of meme that I don’t want to know about. (B+)
Sinners. I loved this movie. (A+)
Thunderbolts*. Thought I would like this more than I did. (B)
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. The last scene is a masterclass in not having the faintest idea how to end a movie. (B+)
Andor (season two). Only a slight dip from season one. Overall, the series was a brilliant look at radicalization, the messiness of rebellion, and the oppressive flatness of authoritarianism. (A+)
There There by Tommy Orange. Devastating. (A-)
The Fear of Never Landing. Good album to chill out to by Marconi Union, who previously brought you the most relaxing song in the world. (A-)
Novocaine. This was bad. (D+)
Glass Onion. More Benoit Blanc mysteries please — I love watching Daniel Craig and his CSI: KFC accent chewing scenery. (A-)
The Gorge. Half of this was great and the other half was just another pseudo-horror action thing. (B-)
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar. Marvelous. (A)
Andor: The Rogue One Arc. This fan edit of Rogue One in the style of a three-episode Andor arc is as Gilroy-esque a cut as you’re ever going to get. (A-)
Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation. I had been kinda ambivalent about the M:I movies, but Fallout converted me, so now I’m slowly making my way back through the back catalog. (B+)
Via Carota. Best meal I’ve had in a long time. The tagliatelle was better than any pasta dish I had during my trip to Rome — it’s true, don’t @ me! And the roast chicken was perfect. (A+)
V for Vendetta. Underrated. (A-)
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt. I’m going to tell you the embarrassing truth: I thought this was about actual samurai and perhaps related to the Tom Cruise movie. It is very much not. I gave it a real shot but ended up abandoning it about halfway through. (C)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Still a marvel of animated creativity. (A)
The Phoenician Scheme. Didn’t vibe with this at all. (B-)
Downhill mountain biking. This is giving me so much life right now. (A+)
Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death. Not my favorite W&G but still. (B+)
F1. Like Top Gun: Maverick crossed with Ford v Ferarri but Cruise and Bale played the aging outsider role much better than Pitt. Is Pitt even a good actor or is he just extremely charismatic? (B+)
Superman. I thought it was fine but didn’t like it as much as others seemed to. Better than anything Zach Snyder did for DC though. (B)
Shōgun. Rewatch with my son. Just an incredible show all the way around. (A+)
The Last of Us (season two). This show was always fighting an uphill battle with me — I don’t like zombie media and I dislike characters (Ellie!) who wouldn’t survive/thrive in the situations that they’re in with their personalities & characteristics. And I finally won. (C+)
The Handmaid’s Tale (season six). *sigh* No idea why I started watching (and then finished) this season; I’m a sucker for closure I guess. (C)
Nintendo Switch 2. I bought this to play Kart with my kids and also for a better Fortnite experience. So far, so good. (B+)
Mario Kart World. I haven’t played a ton of this, but it’s good so far. Free roam mode is pretty fun. I’ve gotta write up my Kart wishlist sometime…Nintendo only checked off one or two items in World. (B+)
Sargent and Paris. Caught this on the very last day of the show and hoo boy was it crowded. (A- for the show, C+ for the crowds)
Let God Sort Em Out. Need to listen to this one a few more times but I’m liking it so far. (B+)
Right now, I’m watching Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season three, listening to Deacon King Kong on audiobook (fantastic, a lock for an A+), rewatching Wandavision, and picking at Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane.
Past installments of my media diet are available here. What good things have you watched, read, or listened to lately?
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"Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight" was an astonishing watch.
"Murderbot" was a hoot.
Recently finished "Young Sheldon" and "The Good Place" with the kids. They loved it. Now starting them on "Modern Family." It makes me realize I need to start a list of other must-watch television to expose my kids to. "Star Trek: TNG" and "Quantum Leap" are up next.
I realize this adds nothing to the conversation, but I once swam across a pond with Alexandra Fuller (author of "Don't Let's Go"). She's as intense and charismatic as you might imagine.
…. As my sisters would ask, “when do you throw on a wash?”
How do you do all that you seem to do.
Mind blown!
Great list. Always fun to see some NYC stuff in there — how often do you make it down to the city? Totally agree on Via Carota; I slept on this for a decade, finally went, and felt like Squidward trying his first Krabby Patty: All the wasted years…
Also, as someone who's like 2/3 of the way through Power Broker but didn't do the 99% Invisible readalong, is it worth going back to listen to those episodes? I'm afraid it's gonna make me want to start the book over. I used to listen to 99% back in the heyday of those shows, but Mars annoyed me. Maybe this would redeem him.
I wish they'd do a Power Broker limited series on HBO. Michael Bierut has a pretty good dream team — maybe need someone bigger to play Moses though.
As someone who read along with the episodes last year, I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t just listen to the episodes to catch up - the summaries they do may help refresh since it’s such a long book and the guests discussion is rarely suuper specific to that particular chapter.
Jason, what do you use to keep track of your media diet?
I’m not Jason, but I have found this app to be pretty effective in managing movies, TV shows and books that I am going through or plan to go through.
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sequel-media-tracker/id1630746993
I use the Notes app to jot down everything and then go back and write the reviews all at once right before I publish.
Chiming in here, bc I use sheets to keep a spreadsheet. One tab for to be watched/read (by medium), one for did watch. I’m now almost a decade deep, and having the ability to look back at the distribution of release dates or calculate the number of hours spent or sort by genre is a ridiculously nerdy, deep pleasure as part of the turning of the new year. Highly recommend
I keep a similar list in Airtable (available as app & desktop in-browser), but it's mainly for tracking movies my kids have watched and things I want them to see.
Ran into a friend on a Saturday afternoon at the Barnes and Noble on Colorado Boulevard in east Denver. He was so excited to find out I was also a reader he had to share a book with me. Thank goodness he did. Overstory is incredible, and I'm only half way through. I'll truly never think about trees the same way again. I might also change my mind about humans, but I'm only half way through.
The audio book version of Overstory is pretty good.
I recently listened to the new season of The Retrievals from Serial Podcasts, about the surprisingly common experience of having insufficient anesthesia (and excruciating pain) during c-section. Intense but well worth a listen.
I’ve been enjoying some of the podcast series on Noiser. The Titanic one I found particularly good. The narration is great. It feels as if James Bond is the narrator. https://www.noiser.com/titanic-ship-of-dreams
The Studio and Stick on Apple TV+ were fun watches.
Department Q on Netflix is the best series I've watched recently. Great cast and great writing. The subject matter is a little bit dark, but it's a fantastically done take on the typical detective show.
Agreed
+1 on Department Q and Murderbot
I don’t work summers so I’ve been rewatching Girls and then listening to a podcast called Girls Girls (not Girls rewatch).
For new stuff I thought Dying For Sex was excellent, especially the near perfect finale.
Finally read All Fours and it was fine. It made me laugh out loud multiple times so that’s my new book criteria. Make me LAUGH!
I struggled with Last Samurai as well (although I'd love to see an analysis of it through the lens of the LLM-era we're in) and I almost quit where you did but I will say this: the last quarter (part V) is probably the strongest. It sticks a great landing.
The Four Seasons remake on Netflix was silly and fun, always great to see great comedic talent work together. Murderbot was good, Alexander Skarsgard is amazing as Murderbot, although I thought the book was more captivating than the TV show.
Unpopular opinion, perhaps, but Foundation on AppleTV+ has been enjoyable, mostly because Lee Pace is such an incredible actor. I would give anything a try as long as he was in it.
Just finished Martyr! and really loved it, excellent and captivating writing. Polostan by Neal Stephenson is fun but I wasn't as grabbed by the story or main character as I hoped. Revisted The Summer that Melted Everything, and wow, what a book. I need to read more Tiffany McDaniel.
New things on my list are The Stoic Challenge by William Irvine, The Work of Art by Adam Moss, and I am very excited for the next season of Slow Horses!
The former, as proven by 12 Monkeys.
He can definitely act and you're right about 12 Monkeys, but I wonder if he's mostly just coasting these days. I didn't think he was good in F1. When's the last time he seemed like he gave a shit? Once Upon a Time in Hollywood? The Big Short?
He's a victim of Burt Reynolds Syndrome. Burt really delivered in "Deliverance," but that was his last chance before becoming a movie idol. Once you're up there, it's rare to be given the opportunity to do interesting work.
Just popping by to say that K-Pop Demon Hunters on Netflix is WAAAAAY better than it has any right to be. Just a supremely well-crafted and entertaining film from start to finish.
I only just heard it’s the team behind Spiderverse and Mitchell’s vs Machines and now I’m excited
my only apology is for when the songs are still stuck in your head three weeks from now.
We're of the same opinion about a lot of stuff. But I think I've got to re-watch Sinners. It just didn't grab me. I felt like it couldn't figure out what it wanted to be.
I'd also shout out Too Much the recent Lena Dunham series. I thought it was excellent and the leads absolutely killed it.
Thanks for sharing your media diet!
I must disagree re: Brave New World. I thought it was pretty bad! A half-assed spy thriller for its first half and a half-assed action movie for its second. All the Giancarlo Esposito stuff was added during reshoots and it shows. It's also the least charismatic that Harrison Ford has ever been, somehow.
On the plus side, gotta love Andor (now THAT is a spy thriller). Thanks for pointing to the Rogue One "Andor cut", definitely checking that out later.
Love these Media Diet Reviews! A few recent items from my world:
The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger - Amazing book about plant "intelligence" (maybe the quotes aren't necessary!). Should change your perception of our green friends. Kottke.org mentioned the book last year. The initial reaction was correct.
https://kottke.org/24/05/the-light-eaters-and-plant-intelligence
The Pitt - Sounds like a re-do of ER but this is fast-paced and modern with some great characters. And I believe it's a fairly accurate portrayal of an ER these days. Every episode felt like I was strapping into a funhouse ride and whipping around from patient to patient all episode.
Meute - Techno Brass Band - Just check them out. Especially if you need a quick pick-me-up.
https://youtu.be/dlFrI8_Orys?si=L-ogwK4GuEUi_vMp
https://youtu.be/QGClnYQYFq4?si=lQyh7ENO3Ne8wzbH
I just started Sally Mann’s audiobook reading of her autobiography Hold Still and I like it so far. Does not waste time getting into the complicated world she (and her husband) grew up in.
Just finished ST Voyager and DS9. Voyager did better with its last episode than DS9 but DS9’s last season was amazing.
Loved Andor S2, especially the story arcs involving Kleya and Luthen. Kleya was probably my favorite character in the show and I hope Elizabeth Dulau has a long and interesting career.
Pitt is only good when he doesn’t have to carry a movie. He’s somehow an amazing supporting player and terrible in a leading role.
Absolutely loved Hold Still. I would strongly recommend also getting a hard copy because the photos add a lot.
Two books by Amity Gaige - Sea Wife and Heartwood. Loved the description of moss in Heartwood.
Bio on Yoko Ono by David Sheff. Fascinating and another example of an exceptional woman mistreated and misunderstood by the public and media.
Rewatching Mindhunter.
Watched loads of Wimbledon matches last month live on espn+ which was fantastic. Fewer commercials, little or no commentary, just tennis.
Listen to The Tennis Podcast religiously.
The best way to enjoy Via Carota is at the bar by yourself with a book. You can *always* get in.
Did you get the grilled artichoke hearts though? I dream of those hearts.
There is a single slur in Bill & Ted that kept me from showing it at our high school movie nights. Last year, I edited it out and showed it. One of the best movies for that age group.
Not ashamed to say, I teared up a bit during the final presentation.
It's not new, but we're enjoying working our way through The Bureau. French secret service, tense, nicely paced, great stuff.
The best. Like, it aches that I can never watch it for the first time again good. The remake “The Agency” is solid and a good watch but nothing touches the original. Duflot!
Seconding K-Pop Demon Hunters. And yes, the songs WILL play in your head nonstop.
Recently flew through Culpability by Bruce Holsinger - family drama that grapples with the implications of modern AI systems. Would recommend.
I’ve also been working my way through old seasons of Survivor, starting at the beginning. Definitely a comfort watch but also interesting to see societal / cultural changes as the years go by.
+1 for 'My Brilliant Friend'. Loved every season in a different way.
+1 for Via Carota. It's one of the best Italian restaurants I tried in NYC (others I liked: La Masseria, Piccola Cucina Estiatorio).
Haven't brought myself to watch 'Andor', I thought it would be disappointing. I will give it a try.
'Slow Horses' continues to be pretty good.
Movies: loved 'Anora' and 'Juror #2'.
Could you, please, list the network/streaming service (or "theater") for movies and television that were in this list? Not everyone has all of the services, or they rotate them; in any case it would help folks find them.
Posts like this one make me realize how lucky we are to have you around.
I just wanted to say that, Jason.
Thank you.
The description for Ministry of Time sounds very similar to the great Spanish TV Series, also called Ministry of Time (El Ministerio del Tiempo).
I'm glad you asked. (These are my favorites from the last month)
Final Cut by Charles Burns. My favorite of his books. Thank goodness for great librarians.
The Naked Gun. Giggled all the way through and guffawed at least thrice.
Weapons. Loved it. The first 45 minutes is a little slow but definitely built the vibe. It's pretty scary and the gore is too good, so I had to cover my eyes during at least three scenes.
Female Perversions (1996). I am not easy to shock, but found the title very appropriate. I would never call it perverted, but I'll bet there are too many people that would. I went in thinking I might learn something and found instead that it resonated with me very much. Way more moving than I expected and a simple kind of poetry that made even the most heavy-handed imagery work. (currently on Criterion streaming)
I’m excited to dive into Is a River Alive? soon! Have you read any others by Robert Macfarlane? I was meant to go to his book tour stop in St Andrews today but my kids have chickenpox so I watched the recording of the interview he did at the Edinburgh Book Festival instead - highly recommend: https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on/robert-macfarlane-the-beinghood-of-nature
I haven't read any of his other books, but I am quoted briefly in this one so that's exciting. 😳
Now doubly excited to read it!
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