Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

Mary Poppins Returns follows the grown Banks children and Michael's children on a new adventure with the magical nanny. Michael's wife has died and he is bankrupt when Mary Poppins comes to help. She takes care of the 3 children in her magical musical way. Jack, the lamplighter, accompanies them on their adventures in depression-era London.

Upsides
Not a reboot!
The characters fit well together
Some good music
The costumes
Lamplighter song

Downsides
Some not as good music
Very much  a repeat in story structure from the first one
Mary now more based on the books, which means a more brash and edgy Mary
Forcable inclusion of rap for Lin-Manuel Miranda

Venom (2018)

Venom follows journalist Eddie Brock as he investigates Carlton Drake. He is doing experiments causing death. Eddie follows the information until he is attacked inside one of Carlton Drake's labs. Eddie thinks he is sick until Venom reveals himself and his powers.


Upside
Real strong origin story - clear motivation for both protagonist and antagonist
Good fight scenes
Enter the Spiderverse without Spiderman actually works

Downside
A lot of swearing for PG13
Venom and the other symbiotes look very similar and can be hard to tell apart in dimly lit scenes

Guibord s'en va-t-en guerre (2015)

My Internship in Canada

This French Canadian film follows a Haitian intern to a Quebec member of parliament. He arrives as tensions lead to a nation wide issue in which the MP has the deciding vote.

Upside
Funny - I know I missed things because I was watching with English subtitles
Authentic - As someone who grew up in small town Canada I found this hilarious and realistic to a point. People who have never lived in a small town may not enjoy it as thoroughly as I did.
Canadian award winning film - Best Canadian Feature Film Special Jury Citation(TIFF 2015)

Downside
People will miss out on this because it is french

You - Austin Grossman

You is a fascinating look behind the scenes of videogame development in the 1990s. The story follows Russell as he joins the company of his highschool friends. During his new job at Black Arts he begins to unravel the mystery of why he didn't really stay friends with this group after highschool. As he works on the newest project he finds glitches in the old games that shouldn't be there. With the help of his memories of Simon, the new game and the four game characters he finds the source. Eliminating the glitch is another problem....

Upsides
Fascinating style jumps between past, present and imagination without notice
Believable characters - all the dated references are time appropriate (set 1990s written 2013)
It is just really good!

Downsides
Some of the jumps in narrative between past and imagination are hard to determine. I am still not sure if some things actually happened

Tag (2018)

Tag is a true story of friends from Spokane, Washington. They have been playing an ongoing game of tag for 30 years.

Upsides
Comedy based on reality = believable characters
The beginning has a great hook

Downsides
Certainly earned the 14A rating - swearing and sexual comments and constant marijuana use
The end is a strange mix of heartfelt emotion and over the top comedy action

Ocean's 8 (2018)

This movie follows Debbie Ocean, Danny Ocean's sister. Debbie gets out of jail and reconnects with her partner. She makes a female crew to pull a heist she thought up over the last 5 years in jail. They will steal a necklace that has not been out of the vault for 50 years. Like the other Ocean movies this includes a revenge plot and detailed plans going wrong.

Downsides
Like the previous movies the character set up was really long
It felt less suspenseful and tense than the previous movies - there was space to breathe even when things seemed to go wrong

Upsides
I liked the way Anne Hathaway played her character
The end was clever

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie

Dr. Sheppard begins the story establishing the village of King's Abbot. He then lays out the characters invovled in the murder of Roger Ackroyd. As the police work on solving the murder Dr. Sheppard realizes that his new neighbour is Hercule Poirot. Soon Poirot is soon asked to solve the case by the girlfriend of the main suspect. As usual Poirot says yes and promises to find the whole truth. As more and more information is revealed different people become the subject of investigation until the very end. Poriot asks all involved or suspected to meet together, he promises that he knows the truth, and if the guilty does not confess all will be told to the police. The truth is finally revealed and Dr. Sheppard finishes writing his account of the mystery.

Upsides

The ending! (The end is amazing, I have read another book with a similar ending but this one was much superiorly executed) I thought I had it figured out about halfway through but I was very wrong

The character development - I really like the butler


Downsides
Poirot has information the reader does not which allows him to solve the murder (with this information I may have suspected the truth, but no reader could be certain)
The regional setting is very confusing for someone not familiar with it



This is the best book I have read since "The Silmarillian"