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December 2025 movie/music recap

Happy new year! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

Gotta say I didn't think I'd kept these recaps going the whole year, which I'm quite happy about.
The one thing that's bothering me though is how superficial these little reviews can be, but at the same time I'm doing those mostly for myself for fun, to make a point to remember a bit of what I'm watching - and I still wish to avoid spoilers as much as I can, too, which doesn't help to write something substantial. I think I'm in a battle between wanting to get better at this and fearing I might lose interest if I start taking it as a chore? I don't know, but I think I'll still look for some stuff to get better at anyway, and maybe make a little checklist of points I should talk about when I really enjoy a movie. No promise though.
Also, I need to make an About/contact page one of these days just in case someone would like to talk to me (or yell at me for the bad grammar) but I'm still wondering what contact I'd like to link in there, so for now my bsky profile will suffice, feel free to @me. (No but seriously, what's the best way nowadays for a blog like this, except maybe adding a comment plugin or creating a dedicated email address? I don't want to deal with yet another, I already have enough of them.)

Anyway! Since I'm in the middle of my vacations, I got the time to watch a bit more stuff than usual.

Movie

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

How to get people hooked in 15min: the movie
There's such a quality to this film at every level, it's crazy to me how excellent it is. Loved everything about it, really! Russell Crowe is such a good actor in this, his friendship and dialogues with Paul Bettany's character were great to watch. (Nice to see Billy Boyd too!)
I now definitely get why there was a meme about millennial guys hyping up this movie so much. It's definitely one of my favorite now!

Wake Up Dead Man (2025)

Really good! Ryan Johnson and Daniel Craig can keep working on this franchise as long as they like, I'll be there to watch. I did think the intro part was a bit too long, but it makes sense with Benoit Blanc's appearance. Josh O'Connor was an excellent protagonist, and the one scene with him having that phone conversation makes this movie, and his character, from great to excellent. I'm not religious but there is definitely some actual christian goodness happening there and I wish more devout people would act like that.
The lighting in this movie is stunning, especially in the church; I'll have to watch it again and pause it just to look at them.
Also the portraits in the credits were great! One more nice human touch to close this great movie.

Black Phone (2021)

This was pretty good! It rides at first on the Stranger Danger warning and then get mixed with the right amount of supernatural to make it a nice mix of a thriller/horror movie. Finney and Gwen are really cool kids and carry the whole story really well, and the Grabber is an interesting villain. I wouldn't say it's a diamond in the rough but it's overall a well shot lowish budget movie with an interesting story.

Black Phone 2 (2025)

This is a great sequel that doesn't steal anything from its predecessor! Surprisingly, there was a lot of heart for a horror movie; I love that the siblings' relationship didn't follow the old cliché of teenagers hating each other, they respect each other and there's an obvious love between them that is really nice, it's depicted in a real genuine way that, even if it makes sense for the movie, is still really nice to watch. I'd even say overall this is a great story about the Blake family, and the end almost got a tear in my eye.
Visually speaking, the cold of winter is really well shot, with a nice tint of blue during the outdoor scenes. I also loved the visual changes between reality and dream sequences, from crispy clean to grainy old camera, and it was utilized in a way I thought to be just the right amount.

The World Is Not Enough (1999)

Despite the usual action scenes, I felt it was overall a lot more subdued than the average James Bond movie, but not in a negative way. I enjoyed it alright.
It was obvious but the second the helicopter with the saws appeared on screen, i knew they'd have fun with it at some point, and oh boy! It was a stupid action scene but it was awesome lol
Sophie Marceau was actually pretty bad, she was quite boring throughout the movie and didn't deliver, but it was a nice surprise to see Denise Richards! She wasn't that good but still, pretty cool to see her.
M had some good moments too, great to see more of her. Q's last scene was pretty cool, I'm going to miss that old man. And Valentin!!! Always such a joy to see that character, even if it was for the last time. The main villain was nothing to write home about though.

Die Another Day (2002)

It certainly is a choice to put Madonna during torture scenes as the opening song
Ayy Michael Madsen!!
Anyway sadly this one was pretty forgettable, especially when they managed to reuse one or two specific tropes right after the last movie. No, seriously, even if I always try to say something of the stuff I watch, I don't have much more to say about this one.
And with that, I'm done with the Brosnan Bonds! Goldeneye is still the best in my eyes. This era was quite riddled with bad CGI and too much explosions, but there was some nice changes and thoughtful moments, like how M was more involved - though Judi Dench's acting certainly has a say in how much I enjoyed her scenes.

TV Show

Generation Kill (2008)

This is a rewatch, as I have a kind of bi annual tradition of watching this show. (It was also a bit of a weird time to rewatch, as James Ransone, the actor who plays Ray Person, died a few weeks ago and was one of my faves from this show, and from The Wire, too. RIP you legend.)
It's an extremely good miniseries following marines during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and from what I could read here and there from veterans, it's one of the best depictions there is. The pacing is pretty perfect, between the long awaiting times and the action moments, and it's filmed almost like a documentary. There's also a definite vibe of road trip during the whole show that is chef's kiss and you can feel the camaraderie between the guys, between the singing and the complaints of stupid decisions from the higher ups.
If there's a lot of military slang that can be at times confusing, there's also enough explanations here and there to understand what's happening.
I highly recommend this show BUT fair warning for those who would be interested in watching it, there are quite a lot of slurs. It makes sense in the context of the story/setting, but there are still a lot of them, so if this could upset you, you're warned.
(Also take the time to learn who's who, it can be a bit confusing during the first watch if all the white boys look the same to you, lol)

Music

Geoplex released a new track called Afterburn, it's a banger and you should definitely check it out!

As I said in the last video game log, I beat Uncle Chop's Rocket Shop and I've been listening to its OST here and there; if there's a track I could recommend from it would be "Fixin’ Stuff, or The Trials and Tribulations of Wilbur the Mechanic at the Hands of Uncle Chop" ... And maybe also "Time for a Cold One" for a more laid back track. Spending the ingame days and evenings with those main two tracks were such a highlight to me.

And the habitual list of albums I liked from 1001 Albums this month, without commentary:

#log #monthly #movie #music #series