Book #21 for 2026 is Provenance (2017) by Ann Leckie - a re-read. In many ways I prefer Provenance to the Ancillary books. It helps that it's playing in the mystery/long con genres, but also it's simply a more straightforward human story, less reliant on worldbuilding. In any case, it's an A+.

Film #123 for 2026 is Live Free or Die Hard (2007) aka Die Hard 4.0. The action scenes are genuinely spectacular - if ridiculous - but the film conspires to suck the fun from them with a depressing blue-grey colour palette and a joyless, humourless idiotic script. A franchise low point.

Film #122 for 2026 is Backrooms (2026). It's far cleverer than I had anticipated, even having read reviews. Borrowing the Silent Hill franchise's best idea reaps significant dividends. And that sound design! Impressive.

Film #121 for 2026 is Hard Boiled (1992). Hard Boiled really is that good. Even when it's stupid or sexist or copaganda - which is pretty much all the time - it's still hopelessly cool. A top tier action film of this era.

When a lo-fi track begins with the sound of a cassette being loaded into a player.

The first 12 minutes of Hard Boiled contain everything there is to know about John Woo (complimentary).

Looking back at my last few days of posting I see I have been grumpier than I ideally would be on this platform, so by way of penance here is an otter.

Letterboxd Friday on an Australian Saturday. Nothing greatly pleased me here, but at least Relaxer was unusual. I guess the next Spike Lee on my list will be Jungle Fever, which sounds cringe but at least it will be about something. #filmsky #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

Film #120 for 2026 is Mo' Better Blues (1990). You might enjoy this better than I did if you have tolerance for the kind of mediocre amelodic jazz that it champions, but I suspect it would still be tedious and toothless even then. Not Spike Lee's best work.

Film #119 for 2026 is Relaxer (2019). This "stay on the couch until you beat level 256 of Pac-Man challenge" film is commendably inventive and effective, pioneering a weird single-location slacker comedy / survival film / horror film, but it's also fairly unpleasant to watch.

Film #118 for 2026 is UglyDolls (2019). Despite some good musical numbers and a few great jokes, this is mostly just what Toy Story would look like if it were incredibly mediocre.

Film #117 for 2026 is Enola Holmes 3 (2026). Millie Bobby Brown is fetchingly presented in some great costumes, and the location filming in Malta is panoramic, but the script never quite finds the fun of previous instalments, and the film relies heavily on reused footage from previous films.

Wow, Kevin Bacon morphed into Ethan Hawke so gradually I never previously noticed. Happy birthday, Kevin Bacon.

Film #116 for 2026 is Toy Story 4 (2019). It's not without a significant share of charm and heart, but in an earlier era of Disney this sequel would have been direct-to-DVD. The Bo Peep redesign is its greatest strength; being unnecessary and redundant is its weakness.

Book #20 for 2026 is Dragon Pearl (2019) by Yoon Ha Lee. Even accepting this is a middle school / YA title, it's poorly written and poorly plotted. Yoon Ha Lee's pivot to barely-competent YA after the towering excellence of Machineries of Empire continues to be a great loss to readers everywhere.

Finished Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 (by @colin.how) today. (Despite the name, it's the first game in the series.) It's got unchallenging-but-fun match-3 gameplay, a branching story with Metroidvania elements for unlocking the branches - but mostly it's got a ton of heart. Recommended.

Film #115 for 2026 is Toy Story 3 (2010). It succeeds by facing the sadness at the heart of its concept head-on. For the same reason, I'm sure it's given more than a few children nightmares. Genuinely great, though.

Film #114 for 2026 is Better Man (2024), a re-watch because Kala wanted to see it. I still feel this Robbie-Williams-as-a-chimp biopic is a far better and more enjoyable film than audiences generally gave it credit for. It's emotional, it's funny, it's visually inventive, and it's charming.

Film #113 for 2026 is Toy Story 2 (1999), another re-watch. (After this, they're new to me.) The Jessie scene with the Sarah McLachlan song is peak Pixar; the rest is good (and frequently funny) but somewhat diminished returns on the first film, and the final act strains credulity.

Feeling memey, might delete later. #auspol #canberraliberals #canberra #act #cbr

Film #112 for 2026 is Toy Story (1995), a rewatch with the intention of catching up on the franchise. I've seen it five times and I'm still finding new jokes, and the artistic direction makes the crude CGI surprisingly timeless. A genuine classic.

Film #111 for 2026 is Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). More ghoulish than I expected, frequently drop-dead hilarious - but Cary Grant is hyperactive here even by Cary Grant standards, capering at all times like he's just taken a big hit of cocaine. It's frankly a bit exhausting.

I'm building a team.

Last four watched, US Friday but AU Saturday. Banshees and Is God Is are top tier, and they make up for the deeply tedious Disclosure Day. #filmsky #LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

Film #110 for 2026 is The Banshees of Inisherin (2022). A brutal, beautiful watch that pays the audience the compliment of permitting multiple readings, all of them worth debating. It works as a literal tale of two men who are destroying themselves for each other, but it also works as so much more.

Evergreen.

Film #109 for 2026 is Disclosure Day (2026). Spielberg does his best to dignify a script that would more normally find a home with M Knight Shyamalan, but there's only so much you can get out of showing people's amazed reactions to things the viewer hasn't seen yet. Emily Blunt is, as always, great.

Well played, Mrs Wang. I see you know your judo well.

Love the message but entirely distracted by the gratuitous use of "mendicant".