Mike and Kelsey give spoiler version of their review for Avatar: The Way of Water. Mike and Kelsey talk about all of the major plot points, action, runtime and whether or no they are in for more Avatar films. I repeat, ****CONTAINS SPOILERS****. Listen if you’ve seen the movie…or you don’t care about having it ruined for you. Kelsey also shares her Top 10 Books of the year after reading a total of 75 in 2022!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, and welcome to a special edition a movie Mix
movie podcast. I am your host, Movie Mike, joined today
by my wife and co host Kelsey. How are you?
I'm great Ish question Mark. At the time of recording,
we are currently trying to get out of Tennessee to
make it home for Christmas. So spoiler alert on what
happens in our life. Do we make it for Christmas
(00:21):
or not? I think we make it. I'm gonna I'm
gonna have the Christmas spirit. I leaned towards my pessimism
and say we don't but have a great Christmas anyway.
I mean, I think we'll be fine either way. We
have each other if we stay here, that's true, that's
all we really need. But I'm currently tracking our plane
and it's it's making moves. But we are here today
(00:42):
to talk about a couple of things. We're gonna do
a spoiler version of our Avatar review and then you
have your favorite books of the year. Yeah. I we
decided we wanted to record this and if you've listened
to our other episodes, I wanted to read seventy five
books by the end of the year, and with ten
days left, I finished on December twenty one with my
(01:02):
seventy five book of the year. Really, I really did
this for you all so I could give my definitive
top books of the year. And I'm gonna break it
down into several categories, so I like a top ten.
So we have all that. First, let's get into the
Avatar Way of the Water spoiler edition of this review.
Spoiler alert. It's long. It is long. So this movie
was three hours and ten minutes, twelve minutes, twelve minutes,
(01:25):
and every minute counts out for three hours. There was
so much going on in this movie, and just thinking
back of all the spoiler parts to it, do you
feel before we get into it, I want to know,
do you think it was worth a three hour and
ten minute runtime? Because I know going into it that
was your biggest thing of like, oh man, this movie
is so long. I so did not want to go
see that movie, but I also wanted to spend time
with you, so I was like, I'll sit through it.
(01:46):
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
But I think we could have cut an hour out
of the film. We could have an hour. I think
we could have cut an hour. I lean more towards
cutting about twenty to thirty minutes out of it. We
could have got an hour. I think just getting it
under the three hour mark would have been perfect for me.
But I still found myself enjoying it, And you, like
I am, aren't the biggest fan of the original, right, No.
(02:09):
I've talked on here before about how I went on
a cruise several years ago with my family and this
is the only movie they played on loop. I don't
know if they made some kind of deal, but Avatar
was on it every hour. And the worst part is
when you're in a cruise ship, like in the interior rooms,
you have no concept of what time of day it is,
and Avatar is just on a never ending loop. Kind
(02:30):
of starting a little bad. So now we're gonna have
Avatar and Avatar two on a loop. So that's a
whole five hour chunk that cruises can get in. I
mean yeah, once you put them together, it's probably like
six hours. You can only play both of them four
times a day. So the biggest spoiler in this movie, well,
it starts with I feel like the whole plot was
pretty simple. Yeah, for three hours, there weren't very many
(02:53):
like twists and that's why I'm saying we could have
cut an hour out. The plot itself was simple, and
we could have condensed it. So you have Jake from
the original one. He now has a family, he is
now the leader, and then you have the old military
guy back from the original one, kind of back from
the dead, but now he is an avatar, looks and
has all the characteristics and the physical attributes as an avatar,
(03:16):
and he is trying to hunt them down. There's also
this serum they discover that can make humans live forever,
and they're trying to at one point go and live
on the moon. So they're kind of a lot of
things missed that part. Well, there are a lot of
things going on that almost that they don't come back to.
What it really comes down to is his entire plan
(03:38):
revolves around finding Jake and killing him, which I felt
like that kind of overpowered the entire movie, and I
was kind of questioning why everybody else was a part
of that and why they were just like, yeah, let's
go and find and kill this dude. How much does
it really benefit them When it all kind of came
back to them being able to find that resource and
they find that evil lab guy in the movie who
(04:00):
was one of the only other humans who ends up
getting his arm bit off later Yes, thank you, which
was the cheesiest part of the film. Probably it looked
like Shark Nato style, Like it looked like some sci
fi crap, and they probably did that to make it
appropriate for kids and not be so realistic. But the
(04:22):
interesting thing about this entire movie that I look back
on is kind of those scenes where you do have
like humans involved, and you do have like cutaways between
the Avatar people and then the other crew, it looks
like different. It almost looks like you're watching like a
soap opera a little bit. So Yeah, I felt like
(04:43):
the plot stayed pretty simple, and then it all kind
of came back to the family, him trying to protect
his family. So on that one and I'm talking about
is it was weird seeing all these people just kind
of mindlessly follow this military guy in his to kill Jake.
And then also on the other side with Jake and
(05:04):
his family going to this remote island and learning the
quote unquote ways of the water, it was giving Waconda forever. Yeah,
that was hard to differentiate. But also that tribe like
them just taking them in and risking kind of losing
people in their tribe and risk bringing war to them.
I almost feel like if I would have been in
(05:25):
that situation, I would have been like, Yo, you gotta
get out of here. Your did it first they did,
which I guess later in the movie. It's the whole
of them forming this bond and this trust together and
then becoming kind of a part of them. But I
feel like at some point I don't be like, yo,
I gotta watch out for my family. I don't I
don't want you bringing this here because they kind of
just bring the war to them and don't really feel
(05:47):
bad about it. I would feel bad about it. Yeah
they got I feel like a lot of people killed.
But even Jake was like, it's never gonna come here, like, yeah,
I won't find uh. I didn't buy that at all
in the movie when that scene reason, yeah, they're not
gonna like they're easily going to find you, and the
exact thing that he said wasn't gonna happen happened almost immediately.
I did find that a little bit comical. So I
(06:10):
feel like an hour and a half into this movie,
I found myself enjoying it a lot more than I did.
But I think it all came to where it really
kind of said in my mind of like, this is
actually something that I'm really enjoying. Was that final hour,
that final third act, which when it takes two hours
to get to the part even enjoy but I didn't.
I didn't feel like I was bored of it. I
(06:31):
didn't feel like I was wanting it to wrap up.
I just remember from the first one that is one
of my favorite scenes of really any movie. I felt
like that third act, that final battle scene is really
kind of like a work of art, and I give
that to James Cameron. It kind of reminded me of
the third act in Titanic, which is one of the
greatest third acts in all of film. The ship going
(06:54):
down and that entire sequence is one of the best
things that's ever been or castrate, just to know how
many things go into that, all the moving parts. You
get one shot to sink that ship. So I credit
a lot to James Cameron's big vision and making big
movies that that was my favorite thing, of course in Titanic,
(07:14):
of course in the first Avatar, and then he was
able to make that even better in this one and
It really kind of reminded me of the final scene
and Titanic of the ship going down, because you have
it again here you have they're all on that ship.
They're trying to rescue their kids, they're held captive, and
then the entire thing is going down, and that's kind
of where the big final battle takes off or happens.
(07:38):
So I felt like that scene was really great, Like
there were so many moments that kind of came full
circle with like their daughter having that weird seizure and
then being able to use that power to guide them
through those lights. All of that tension that came between
Jake and the military guy kind of came to a head.
Spider coming back and then having that battle between do
(08:01):
I want to help the people who I've been living
with or do I want to go and defend my dad.
I felt like that actually all came together. And it
was hard throughout this entire movie to really feel sympathetic
towards them because they were just blue people, yeah, and
they're just it almost felt like we were watching like
a like a Pixar movie and trying to have these
(08:23):
human characteristics. It was hard to like really grasp on
to that because it was more because there's a straight
on drama with a lot of action, so it was
hard to feel sad for them. But I think in
that final scene you kind of feel it a little bit,
but again because they are kind of blue Avatar people.
It takes me admit at the same time, but I
felt like that scene was really great and I feel
(08:46):
even now a week and a half after, it still
feel like I enjoyed it way more than I thought
I was going to, and almost like I need to
defend Avatar for some odd reason, like a lot of
people really hate on on these movies. I mean, you
have to give it to James Cameron, like visionary, like
this was never done before, like the time it took
(09:07):
to create these movies. Also, listening to you talk about that,
I'm just laughing thinking about how James Cameron loves the
third act ship going down because that's what happened in
this one. Loves loves the third act ship going underwater.
It makes for a great movie. So did you kind
of along the same line, did you feel anything when
their kid died in this movie? It was said right,
(09:30):
and it took a lot for me to feel sad.
It wasn't, like cry Worthy said, but it was what
they'd been trying to stop the entire movie of losing anybody,
and then they lose their son. I honestly thought more
people were going to die, Like there was a certain
part in this movie I felt like they weren't going
to make it, which I think it's It's a good
(09:52):
thing to do to make you feel like, hey, there's
no hope in any of this fight. There's no way
they're going to defeat him, and then they do, and
then it definitely leaves the door open going into Avatar
three with Spider rescuing him after he was basically left
for dead at the bottom of the cloth. Yeah, Spider
(10:13):
have naked the entire dive. Yeah, there weren't a lot
of clothes in this film. In Anybody, like, I get
that they're not real people, but then yeah, they wanted
to make us give all the like human emotions and
then they put them in like loincloths and like a
coconut bra. So we have the next one coming out
in December, and then we have another two in so
(10:39):
for three, four and five. Are you a little bit
more excited going into three now? Or are you like
you know what, I've had it. I mean, I'll go
see them. I don't think that I'm going to say
I'm excited, but I am curious. I would say I'm
kind of excited now. And leading up to watching this
one in theaters, I out more and more excited, especially
(11:01):
after I saw it actually getting really good reviews, which
is surprising to me. I just thought a movie that
came thirteen years after the original one had no chance
of being better than the first one, especially when I
don't really love the first one to begin with. And
you never think sequels are better than the origin. It
rarely happens. The sequel, especially with a movie like this,
(11:21):
always feels like a cash grab, like they're like, all right,
we're gonna make another one. Hangover two and three, A
lot of movies dumb and dumber, like all those movies
that come back so many years after. And I thought
the thirteen year mark was weird because it's not that
far after the original one. Like with Top Gun earlier
this year that was thirty years after that feels a
(11:44):
little bit more like a bigger moment. But for this
one to kind of be in that in between, I
felt like it was going to have to be really
good to even leave an impact, and it did. I
would say I lean more towards being excited for three,
knowing now where the story can go, that they can
probably move to a different terrain after this. I think
(12:06):
that's kind of what each of these movies is going
to focus on now, like a different part of the world,
a different kind of environment. Probably by five or six
still end up in space, just because I feel like
franchises do that. Once they run out of ideas on land,
they go to space. So trying to picture the Avatars
in space, I could see that I could see Avatar
five or six on the moon. They probably will do that,
(12:28):
and it'll probably be an entertaining movie, and I think
that's what I look for now in these movies. I've
heard and seeing a lot of people's comments who really
enjoyed the movies, and I'm leaning on that side now too.
I was an Avatar hater and I enjoyed it. I'm
ready to pay my face blue. Okay, I can't paint
(12:48):
my face blue to the next one. Is it washable paint? Yeah,
we can talk about it. Okay, I was just testing you,
but you passed. I also want to talk about. I
don't know if you already talked about it earlier this
week and when your tektok video is Edie Falco. Uh
did Jordy discuss that? So she filmed her role as
the General her cameo like four years ago, and she
was quoted as saying she thought it had already come
(13:11):
out and been a flop because she had heard nothing
about it. And I don't know why, but that just
makes me laugh so hard that she did this cameo
and then she was like, must have done bad, Like
I hadn't heard anything about it and it just hadn't
come out yet, and I I just find that so
funny for some reason. I mean, proc to all the
cast for landing a role in this movie, in this franchise,
(13:32):
like it is just the one of the best paychecks
you can get. It. Also, as soon as we laughed
the movie, I was googling Zoe Saldana. She has managed
to put herself in three of the five highest grossing
films of all Avatar the Original and then Avengers Infinity
War An End Game, And it's like she has put
(13:54):
herself in just these two worlds, and that's not even
counting the Guardian too the Galaxy movies. It's fascinating to me,
and she's such a good actress. But to be able
to put yourself in like two different let's throw it
at mythical, magical, sci fi superhero type worlds, and to
be able to do both of those roles so well, yeah,
just to just to have the credits of being in
(14:17):
one of the highest grossing movies of all time, but three,
but three of them, it's that's yeah. And then now
afterwards you just kind of cash in on being able
to do this stuff forever. So yeah, I feel like
this is a great guest, especially for Sam Worthington, who
plays Jake. This is the only thing I know him for, Like,
(14:38):
that's it. I remember when he kind of rose to
fame after Avatar. It's very good looking but has a
very hairy neck. Oh interesting. I never really paid attention
to his neck. I just remember seeing pictures and being like, huh,
all right, but he is banking now. So that is Avatar.
The Way of the Water the Spoiler Edition. What would
you give it? I gave it a four out of five.
(14:59):
I mean I would I would probably give it a
four out of five. It was good four out of five.
I think that is a perfect rating for it. I mean, again,
a little long. But I will also say it's one
of those movies that I got up to go to
the bathroom like four times, and I came back and
I was never confused but what was going on, which
was great because sometimes in those movies you will leave
for like three minutes and you come back and it's
(15:19):
seventeen different tracks and lost. But I was able to
catch up quite nicely. Yeah, this one. Don't feel bad
about running to go to the bathroom. Grab second round
of snack. You're gonna need it. All right. Well, we
will come back and do your top ten books of
the year, and we'll do that next. All right, we're
(15:40):
gonna get into now your top ten books of the year.
Remind us again, how many you read this year? Is
a lot of books, and I don't think I'm gonna stop.
I currently I'm reading seventy six. Maybe I'll get to
seventy seven before next Saturday. And the episode we did
before this were books we thought would be good movies
later down the line. Yes, And I will say there's
(16:01):
a couple repeats. Okay, so here we go. Start us
off with your first one. Okay, So I have this
in two categories. So as a lot of people know,
I've read a ton of like world War two books
this year and it loves the World War two book.
Never thought that would be my genre, but here we
are interesting because you don't like war movies. They're just
too gory for me. They stressed me out. I like
warm movies that tell a story. I think that's why
(16:22):
I like the books. I don't like war movies where
it's like just like shooting, like what was the one?
Was it nineteen seventeen? No, there was one with um
Andrew Garfield has a rich has all rich gory stressed
me out, But like nineteen seventeen told a story for
the history aspect of it is what you like? Yes, okay,
so we'll get into your list. You have these in
(16:44):
no particular order. You just kind of broke them up
into categories, right, correct. I have two categories. One I'm
gonna give you just like a top five books of
the year, and then I'm gonna give you my top
five World War two books. Because if I just gave
you like top five books, they would probably all be
World War two books. So I've given you a lot
of movie recommendations over the course of this podcast, and
I also know that people also usually set a resolution
(17:06):
to read more. So these are all ones you would
recommend for that, right, Yes, So here we go. Kick
us off with your list. So my first one is
one that I talked about wanting to see made into
a movie. It's Beneath the Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan.
That was the first one I read this year. That
kind of gave me like the push to keep reading
World War two books because I wasn't in historical fiction
(17:27):
before that and now I can't stop reading them. So
this one was based on a true story of a
teenager named Pino Lela, and it's about him helping fight
the Nazis. And I don't want to give anything else away,
but it is based on a true story and the
author went to Europe, spent time with Pino, learned his
story to then be able to write the book. Yeah,
this is when you read and told me about like
(17:47):
almost every like every time you sat down and what
read a chapter, you'll be like, I gotta tell you
about this one. I couldn't stop reading it. So this
one just for me who hasn't read any books these years.
They got to me because of how much you loved it. Yes,
all right, so next time you list, what do you got?
So the next one is one I just recently read.
It's called The Circus Train, and it is literally about
a circuslan a train, but it's about this girl who
(18:09):
grows up on the train. Her dad is an illusionist.
And then it's set in the time of World War two.
And again I don't want to give too much away,
but it's then about like her dad and the love
of her life and how World War two impacts her
life along the years. Is easier read of more intense read.
I think this one was an easier, more like entertaining
(18:32):
read like less. I didn't feel it was too like
choppyond the History. Alright, what do you have next? Al Right? Next,
I have The Diamond I by Kate Quinn, who I
will say, like this. I started reading every book that
Kate Quinn wrote because they're all so good. So this
one is also based on a true story about one
(18:56):
of the best like um no sorry streets deadliest Female Sniper.
So she wins the award for Deadliest Female Sniper and
it's her true story about how she goes from being
just an average girl to learning that she's really good
with a gun and then fighting in the war. That
sounds intense. It was amazing, it was great. I love it.
And I think I actually gave all of these five stars,
(19:16):
if I remember correctly, all five star books. So these
are all my five solid recommendations. Here only solid, And
I will say again these are all typic place during
the war. There is heavy elements to all of them,
so I will give some fluffier reads. Okay, we'll get
to those later. Um okay. And then the next one
is The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rhymer and
(19:38):
once again said during World War Two. These are all
World War Two. Like I can't seem to pick up
a World War one book. It's only World War two.
But this one is about a It starts and a
young woman is saying her wedding vowels, and then it
kind of takes you back through how we got to
that point. Interesting, So is it all of flashback throughout
(19:59):
the entire book? Yes? And no? Is that hard to
read and go back and forth? Because when watching a movie,
usually they can differentiate by like the way a scene
looks or it shows you like a fade to black,
how do you do that in the book? So it
usually tells you in the chapter, like what talent at
seven and the time period. Sometimes I do have to
go back, like the one I just started um this
(20:20):
week for book seventy six is actually another Kate Quinn one,
and I got confused at first and had to go
back and say, okay, we went back and forth eight years.
So sometimes you do kind of have to, like go
back to the beginning of the chapter. I will say
that's my hardest thing to get over when reading, and
why I probably don't read more is it's hard to
slow my brain down to just read, and I feel
like I'm reading but not taking anything in. And I'll
(20:43):
go back to pages and I realize, I realized that
I don't read anything. See that was me when I
would read like textbooks. But when I'm reading a story,
I can get pretty locked in. I gotta work on it, all, right,
what do you have next in here? The last one
was my book and it happened to make it into
(21:03):
my being. The final one made it into my top five.
Like when artists writes the song at the very last minute,
it makes the album. Yep. So this one is All
the Broken Places by John Boyne, and he actually wrote
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which was a hit.
Didn't they make that into him? They I haven't read
the book or seeing the movie. You don't need to
have read the book to read this one. It's kind
(21:24):
of a sequel. It's technically Book two and The Boy
in the Striped Pajamas series, but you can read them separately.
So this one was really interesting because it tells the
story of a German woman and it's her life now
and you're going back and forth. But she was the
daughter of someone who was really high up in the
(21:44):
German forces and which really closely with Hitler, and so
you're instead of all these other books where you're kind
of reading from someone who was like under Hitler's like rule,
she is someone who was on the enemy side, and
so just seeing how she reckons with that and how
her life ends up. I thought that was really interesting
person I feel like that one could be a great movie.
(22:06):
I would imagine it would be great if The Boy
in the Striped Pajamas was made. That was one. I
think that one came out in two thousand and eight,
but that was a movie that a lot of people recommended.
I think I was looking for like a movie to
make me cry. So I remember watching it, but it
was still long ago. I don't think it made me cry.
I want to read the book next time on it's
on hold of the library for me, and I'm down
to rewatch that movie with you. All right, So what
(22:28):
is your next set of books? So these are just
like my top five of the year, some of some
of them are fluffy, I think, m m. Actually only
two of them are fluffy read. Okay, so let me
know which ones are the fluffy ones or somebody's looking
for a lighter read. Okay, we'll start with the fluffy
Um A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella. I would compare
(22:52):
it to kind of like a Lifetime movie in a book,
but less cheesy. But it's one of those or more
like an onso movie, think like New Year's Eve with
like a star studded Hollywood cast and everyone's life intertwines. Okay.
I like those kind of stories three people and their
lives intertwined. And I will say it's not fluffy in
the sense that it doesn't have anything sad. There's one
(23:14):
of the characters elderly widow. But it is so well written,
and it just is one of those that makes you
feel all the emotions and just reminds you like how
hard it is to be a human, but like how
beautiful it is in those moments of connection, like when
we get to be there for each other. I really
liked this one, and I've read his other books and
I really enjoyed What do you Got Next? Next, I
(23:35):
have the only other fluffy ish, The Measure, which I
also by Nikki Rlick. I know I talked about that
one when I wanted to see that one made into
a movie. Again, not fluffy in the sense that it's
light because it's everyone gets these mysterious strings and it
tells them when they're going to die, but in the
sense of like you don't have to keep up with
like time periods. As I guess, the only thing I
(23:57):
consider fluffy these days. I still think that will make
a great movie. I want to see that one. I
want to see that made into a movie. Um, yeah,
I think that would be really good. I haven't read it,
but we've talked about it that I would recommend it
without reading it all right. Next is Beautiful Country by
Chan Julie Wong, and that is a memoir she grew
(24:18):
up here her parents immigrated from Asia, and it's just
a really moving story about like the difficulties of growing
up as an immigrant child in the US. And yeah,
I just I loved it. Highly recommend it. I don't
want to give away too much of her story, but
I think everyone will read it and have an appreciation
(24:40):
for things that those of us born here and don't
have to go through. So very inspiring. Yes, I felt that.
I think the last movie I watched and it made
me feel like that was Minari, and Minari is kind
of along the same lines. It's an immigrant family who
moves to rural Arkansas, and I saw a lot of
what my family went through moving here. Of just I mean,
(25:01):
just learning how to speak English and getting a job.
The things that are seemed so basic are a lot
harder when you know this isn't your this isn't your country.
So I love inspiring stories like that, so and I
will I will correct myself. She actually immigrated as well.
She was seven the US and both of her parents
(25:23):
were professors in China, and then when they came to
the US, like none of their education was doesn't transfer.
It doesn't transfer over and so they had to start
in these kind of like ground level jobs. They went
from this like notoriety. Dang, that's crazy. Yeah, it was
really good. Got next, all right? So we have a mystery.
So those are my two. I love a suspense and
(25:44):
I love World War two. So this one is called
Firstborn by Will Dean, and it's one of the only
like mystery books I read this year that made me
gasp out loud because there's not one, but there are
two huge twists along the way that had me being like,
and I made some of my friends read it, and
one of my friends finished it like midnight, and she
text me and she's like, what did I just read?
(26:05):
So this was a you can't stop reading it once
you start. So it's about it's girls. She's twin. Her
twin lives in the US. She lives in London, and
she gets a call that her twin has been murdered,
and so she goes over to New York to try
to solve her murder. And you learned so many things
along the way that one sounds good and what's the
final one? Final one is one that I also I
(26:28):
stayed up, I think to like one I am reading,
and then texted all of my friends. I was like,
you have to read this. It's called Before We Were
Yours and it's by Elisa Wingate and it is based
on a true story of a woman in Memphis who
ran kind of like a child trafficking ring almost where
she would get like low income, illiterate parents. She would
trick them into signing their rights away and she would
(26:50):
kidnap their children and then sell them to wealthy families,
like of people who couldn't have their own children. And
it's the story. So this is it's based in a
true story. This woman really ran this ring, but the
characters are made up based on the children who this
happened too. But it's about this set of like siblings
and you kind of go back and forth to their lives.
They were living on a riverboat with their parents too.
(27:12):
Then what happens when they end up in the cow
they all get split up, and just what happens to
all those children? Hey, now it sounds pretty intense to
It was so good and I I had seen it before.
And sometimes they pick really weird cover art for books.
I'm gonna be honest times, cover art is a turn
off and this was a weird cover and I just
never and then I saw the synopsis of it. I
(27:33):
was like, oh, I actually do want to read them.
When picking a book, how do you find these? I
still get like, I don't know how you find all
these books. You had seventy five this year and you
read them all on your kindle, So it's not like
we have seventy five books stacked up here. And is
it by recommendations? Is it by just looking at the
cover the author? How do you find them? So I
(27:54):
follow several Instagram accounts of people that give REX, which
is why I started recommending things on Instagram and good
Reads because I was like, oh, that's like if I'm
influenced by like other people probably want to know different books.
So several like leads there. And then if I have
like an author that I really like, I'll just see
if they have anything new coming out, if they had
(28:16):
anything old that I missed. Sometimes I just browse on
or yeah, like Instagram, Amazon, I look a lot and
then I have the Libby app, which is how I
read from our library and it can recommend things to me.
So a lot of just like random recommendations I went through.
I'll find list like the top books of the year
that moved people, books that everyone or books that people
(28:39):
think everyone should read. I have random sources and now
anybody who needs a book recommendation has ten great ones
to check out ones. You can also follow me on
good Reads. I'll make Mike put it in the show notes. Yeah,
if you missed a title of one of these books
or an author, or you want the other six, you
can go click that link and see all of these
(29:00):
books we talked about. So that is the list. That
is our avatar spoiler review in your top ten books
of the year, anything else you want to say. I
challenge people to read more next year. I'm going to try.
I try. I genuinely love like at the end of
the day, and I know I read on a Kendle,
so it's still a screen, but it just helps my
(29:21):
brain unplug so much because it's just a kindle. It's
not find it's harder to read like on a kindle
app on a phone because you have all the other distractions.
But it's just my kindle. It's not doing anything else.
It's just a book. I light a candle, I pour
a glass of wine, like I'll turn the lights off
and it just helps my brain turn off. And I
feel like my brain has kind of gotten back to
(29:44):
being focused for longer stretches, because I feel like at
the beginning of the pandemic and we all turn to
our devices, I lost some brain cells. So I challenged
myself this year. And I think just finishing grad school
last year and not having any like it couldn't be
a straight A student anymore, not having like any goals
to work towards. I set like personal goals this year.
(30:04):
So it was read books, it was start taking more
workout classes, just like a personal challenge to grow my mind.
And it sounds so cheesy, better myself, but that's what
you did. It was like I I wanted to learn,
and I feel like I learned a lot, even in
fiction books. So because I know people will ask, well,
you set a goal next year, I don't think I will.
(30:26):
I'm also a very like when I start down a
path of something, I get a little obsessive, and so
I don't. I don't think I want to force myself
next year, Like this was just kind of a set
a high limit. But I think I'll just go back
to reading what I enjoy. This was more to remind
me too how much I loved reading and that I
don't always want to turn on the TV and just
(30:47):
like numb out and watch something mindless at the end
of the day. I kind of feel that way about
movies now, like I still love movies really now in
my free time, I enjoy more a movie that I've
already seen in familiar with and reminds me of, like
I don't know, being younger or a different time. I
feel like I watched movies to kind of take me
back to those places. But it also sometimes when watching
(31:08):
new movies, even like we're talking about Avatar, like we
probably wouldn't have watched that unless I was going to
review it for this podcast. So in some aspects, like
I feel like because of the podcast it feels sometimes
like work in a weird way, but I still enjoy it.
So I don't really put goals on myself of like
how many movies to watch an entire year, But I
(31:29):
feel like, although I feel like when it comes to
like Oscar season, we do get in that mode of
like I gotta watch every movie, we have to see
everything that's nominated, which coming up. In the next episode,
we will talk more about one of the best movies
out of the entire year that I feel like if
it doesn't win for Best Picture, I'm I'm rioting. I
will I'm writing as well. So come back for that episode.
(31:51):
Thanks everybody for listening to the podcast this year. Yes,
I have one more plug. I'm raising my hands. No
one can see that, but I'm raising me um. I
also to plug public libraries. I forgot how much I
love a public library, and because I do read on
my kindle, I was like, oh, I don't need a
library card. But there's this great thing called the Libby app,
and you just get a card from your public library
(32:12):
and you sign up and then you can read all
of your e books for free from the library and
you can download them on your kindle. And it is
changed my life and you probably appreciate it because I
spend way less money on books now because I forgot
that you could read the books. There's a weight sometimes,
but I currently have like fifteen books on hold, so
they just kind of cycle and I forget that I've
been waiting five weeks to read them. So that is
(32:34):
my plug for your public libraries. They're great. You can
do a lot of the public library I've seen here.
Ours even has like a seed program if you want
to start a vegetable garden. I don't know, I just
think we forget about all these resources. So support the libraries,
support the cinema, and support your local your local businesses,
(32:54):
do all the things local, support local shops, and listen
to local podcast like this one. So that's gonna do
it for this week and until next time, go out
and watch good movies and read good books, and we
will talk to you later. M
Hello, and welcome to a special edition a movie Mix
movie podcast. I am your host, Movie Mike, joined today
by my wife and co host Kelsey. How are you?
I'm great Ish question Mark. At the time of recording,
we are currently trying to get out of Tennessee to
make it home for Christmas. So spoiler alert on what
happens in our life. Do we make it for Christmas
(00:21):
or not? I think we make it. I'm gonna I'm
gonna have the Christmas spirit. I leaned towards my pessimism
and say we don't but have a great Christmas anyway.
I mean, I think we'll be fine either way. We
have each other if we stay here, that's true, that's
all we really need. But I'm currently tracking our plane
and it's it's making moves. But we are here today
(00:42):
to talk about a couple of things. We're gonna do
a spoiler version of our Avatar review and then you
have your favorite books of the year. Yeah. I we
decided we wanted to record this and if you've listened
to our other episodes, I wanted to read seventy five
books by the end of the year, and with ten
days left, I finished on December twenty one with my
(01:02):
seventy five book of the year. Really, I really did
this for you all so I could give my definitive
top books of the year. And I'm gonna break it
down into several categories, so I like a top ten.
So we have all that. First, let's get into the
Avatar Way of the Water spoiler edition of this review.
Spoiler alert. It's long. It is long. So this movie
was three hours and ten minutes, twelve minutes, twelve minutes,
(01:25):
and every minute counts out for three hours. There was
so much going on in this movie, and just thinking
back of all the spoiler parts to it, do you
feel before we get into it, I want to know,
do you think it was worth a three hour and
ten minute runtime? Because I know going into it that
was your biggest thing of like, oh man, this movie
is so long. I so did not want to go
see that movie, but I also wanted to spend time
with you, so I was like, I'll sit through it.
(01:46):
I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
But I think we could have cut an hour out
of the film. We could have an hour. I think
we could have cut an hour. I lean more towards
cutting about twenty to thirty minutes out of it. We
could have got an hour. I think just getting it
under the three hour mark would have been perfect for me.
But I still found myself enjoying it, And you, like
I am, aren't the biggest fan of the original, right, No.
(02:09):
I've talked on here before about how I went on
a cruise several years ago with my family and this
is the only movie they played on loop. I don't
know if they made some kind of deal, but Avatar
was on it every hour. And the worst part is
when you're in a cruise ship, like in the interior rooms,
you have no concept of what time of day it is,
and Avatar is just on a never ending loop. Kind
(02:30):
of starting a little bad. So now we're gonna have
Avatar and Avatar two on a loop. So that's a
whole five hour chunk that cruises can get in. I
mean yeah, once you put them together, it's probably like
six hours. You can only play both of them four
times a day. So the biggest spoiler in this movie, well,
it starts with I feel like the whole plot was
pretty simple. Yeah, for three hours, there weren't very many
(02:53):
like twists and that's why I'm saying we could have
cut an hour out. The plot itself was simple, and
we could have condensed it. So you have Jake from
the original one. He now has a family, he is
now the leader, and then you have the old military
guy back from the original one, kind of back from
the dead, but now he is an avatar, looks and
has all the characteristics and the physical attributes as an avatar,
(03:16):
and he is trying to hunt them down. There's also
this serum they discover that can make humans live forever,
and they're trying to at one point go and live
on the moon. So they're kind of a lot of
things missed that part. Well, there are a lot of
things going on that almost that they don't come back to.
What it really comes down to is his entire plan
(03:38):
revolves around finding Jake and killing him, which I felt
like that kind of overpowered the entire movie, and I
was kind of questioning why everybody else was a part
of that and why they were just like, yeah, let's
go and find and kill this dude. How much does
it really benefit them When it all kind of came
back to them being able to find that resource and
they find that evil lab guy in the movie who
(04:00):
was one of the only other humans who ends up
getting his arm bit off later Yes, thank you, which
was the cheesiest part of the film. Probably it looked
like Shark Nato style, Like it looked like some sci
fi crap, and they probably did that to make it
appropriate for kids and not be so realistic. But the
(04:22):
interesting thing about this entire movie that I look back
on is kind of those scenes where you do have
like humans involved, and you do have like cutaways between
the Avatar people and then the other crew, it looks
like different. It almost looks like you're watching like a
soap opera a little bit. So Yeah, I felt like
(04:43):
the plot stayed pretty simple, and then it all kind
of came back to the family, him trying to protect
his family. So on that one and I'm talking about
is it was weird seeing all these people just kind
of mindlessly follow this military guy in his to kill Jake.
And then also on the other side with Jake and
(05:04):
his family going to this remote island and learning the
quote unquote ways of the water, it was giving Waconda forever. Yeah,
that was hard to differentiate. But also that tribe like
them just taking them in and risking kind of losing
people in their tribe and risk bringing war to them.
I almost feel like if I would have been in
(05:25):
that situation, I would have been like, Yo, you gotta
get out of here. Your did it first they did,
which I guess later in the movie. It's the whole
of them forming this bond and this trust together and
then becoming kind of a part of them. But I
feel like at some point I don't be like, yo,
I gotta watch out for my family. I don't I
don't want you bringing this here because they kind of
just bring the war to them and don't really feel
(05:47):
bad about it. I would feel bad about it. Yeah
they got I feel like a lot of people killed.
But even Jake was like, it's never gonna come here, like, yeah,
I won't find uh. I didn't buy that at all
in the movie when that scene reason, yeah, they're not
gonna like they're easily going to find you, and the
exact thing that he said wasn't gonna happen happened almost immediately.
I did find that a little bit comical. So I
(06:10):
feel like an hour and a half into this movie,
I found myself enjoying it a lot more than I did.
But I think it all came to where it really
kind of said in my mind of like, this is
actually something that I'm really enjoying. Was that final hour,
that final third act, which when it takes two hours
to get to the part even enjoy but I didn't.
I didn't feel like I was bored of it. I
(06:31):
didn't feel like I was wanting it to wrap up.
I just remember from the first one that is one
of my favorite scenes of really any movie. I felt
like that third act, that final battle scene is really
kind of like a work of art, and I give
that to James Cameron. It kind of reminded me of
the third act in Titanic, which is one of the
greatest third acts in all of film. The ship going
(06:54):
down and that entire sequence is one of the best
things that's ever been or castrate, just to know how
many things go into that, all the moving parts. You
get one shot to sink that ship. So I credit
a lot to James Cameron's big vision and making big
movies that that was my favorite thing, of course in Titanic,
(07:14):
of course in the first Avatar, and then he was
able to make that even better in this one and
It really kind of reminded me of the final scene
and Titanic of the ship going down, because you have
it again here you have they're all on that ship.
They're trying to rescue their kids, they're held captive, and
then the entire thing is going down, and that's kind
of where the big final battle takes off or happens.
(07:38):
So I felt like that scene was really great, Like
there were so many moments that kind of came full
circle with like their daughter having that weird seizure and
then being able to use that power to guide them
through those lights. All of that tension that came between
Jake and the military guy kind of came to a head.
Spider coming back and then having that battle between do
(08:01):
I want to help the people who I've been living
with or do I want to go and defend my dad.
I felt like that actually all came together. And it
was hard throughout this entire movie to really feel sympathetic
towards them because they were just blue people, yeah, and
they're just it almost felt like we were watching like
a like a Pixar movie and trying to have these
(08:23):
human characteristics. It was hard to like really grasp on
to that because it was more because there's a straight
on drama with a lot of action, so it was
hard to feel sad for them. But I think in
that final scene you kind of feel it a little bit,
but again because they are kind of blue Avatar people.
It takes me admit at the same time, but I
felt like that scene was really great and I feel
(08:46):
even now a week and a half after, it still
feel like I enjoyed it way more than I thought
I was going to, and almost like I need to
defend Avatar for some odd reason, like a lot of
people really hate on on these movies. I mean, you
have to give it to James Cameron, like visionary, like
this was never done before, like the time it took
(09:07):
to create these movies. Also, listening to you talk about that,
I'm just laughing thinking about how James Cameron loves the
third act ship going down because that's what happened in
this one. Loves loves the third act ship going underwater.
It makes for a great movie. So did you kind
of along the same line, did you feel anything when
their kid died in this movie? It was said right,
(09:30):
and it took a lot for me to feel sad.
It wasn't, like cry Worthy said, but it was what
they'd been trying to stop the entire movie of losing anybody,
and then they lose their son. I honestly thought more
people were going to die, Like there was a certain
part in this movie I felt like they weren't going
to make it, which I think it's It's a good
(09:52):
thing to do to make you feel like, hey, there's
no hope in any of this fight. There's no way
they're going to defeat him, and then they do, and
then it definitely leaves the door open going into Avatar
three with Spider rescuing him after he was basically left
for dead at the bottom of the cloth. Yeah, Spider
(10:13):
have naked the entire dive. Yeah, there weren't a lot
of clothes in this film. In Anybody, like, I get
that they're not real people, but then yeah, they wanted
to make us give all the like human emotions and
then they put them in like loincloths and like a
coconut bra. So we have the next one coming out
in December, and then we have another two in so
(10:39):
for three, four and five. Are you a little bit
more excited going into three now? Or are you like
you know what, I've had it. I mean, I'll go
see them. I don't think that I'm going to say
I'm excited, but I am curious. I would say I'm
kind of excited now. And leading up to watching this
one in theaters, I out more and more excited, especially
(11:01):
after I saw it actually getting really good reviews, which
is surprising to me. I just thought a movie that
came thirteen years after the original one had no chance
of being better than the first one, especially when I
don't really love the first one to begin with. And
you never think sequels are better than the origin. It
rarely happens. The sequel, especially with a movie like this,
(11:21):
always feels like a cash grab, like they're like, all right,
we're gonna make another one. Hangover two and three, A
lot of movies dumb and dumber, like all those movies
that come back so many years after. And I thought
the thirteen year mark was weird because it's not that
far after the original one. Like with Top Gun earlier
this year that was thirty years after that feels a
(11:44):
little bit more like a bigger moment. But for this
one to kind of be in that in between, I
felt like it was going to have to be really
good to even leave an impact, and it did. I
would say I lean more towards being excited for three,
knowing now where the story can go, that they can
probably move to a different terrain after this. I think
(12:06):
that's kind of what each of these movies is going
to focus on now, like a different part of the world,
a different kind of environment. Probably by five or six
still end up in space, just because I feel like
franchises do that. Once they run out of ideas on land,
they go to space. So trying to picture the Avatars
in space, I could see that I could see Avatar
five or six on the moon. They probably will do that,
(12:28):
and it'll probably be an entertaining movie, and I think
that's what I look for now in these movies. I've
heard and seeing a lot of people's comments who really
enjoyed the movies, and I'm leaning on that side now too.
I was an Avatar hater and I enjoyed it. I'm
ready to pay my face blue. Okay, I can't paint
(12:48):
my face blue to the next one. Is it washable paint? Yeah,
we can talk about it. Okay, I was just testing you,
but you passed. I also want to talk about. I
don't know if you already talked about it earlier this
week and when your tektok video is Edie Falco. Uh
did Jordy discuss that? So she filmed her role as
the General her cameo like four years ago, and she
was quoted as saying she thought it had already come
(13:11):
out and been a flop because she had heard nothing
about it. And I don't know why, but that just
makes me laugh so hard that she did this cameo
and then she was like, must have done bad, Like
I hadn't heard anything about it and it just hadn't
come out yet, and I I just find that so
funny for some reason. I mean, proc to all the
cast for landing a role in this movie, in this franchise,
(13:32):
like it is just the one of the best paychecks
you can get. It. Also, as soon as we laughed
the movie, I was googling Zoe Saldana. She has managed
to put herself in three of the five highest grossing
films of all Avatar the Original and then Avengers Infinity
War An End Game, And it's like she has put
(13:54):
herself in just these two worlds, and that's not even
counting the Guardian too the Galaxy movies. It's fascinating to me,
and she's such a good actress. But to be able
to put yourself in like two different let's throw it
at mythical, magical, sci fi superhero type worlds, and to
be able to do both of those roles so well, yeah,
just to just to have the credits of being in
(14:17):
one of the highest grossing movies of all time, but three,
but three of them, it's that's yeah. And then now
afterwards you just kind of cash in on being able
to do this stuff forever. So yeah, I feel like
this is a great guest, especially for Sam Worthington, who
plays Jake. This is the only thing I know him for, Like,
(14:38):
that's it. I remember when he kind of rose to
fame after Avatar. It's very good looking but has a
very hairy neck. Oh interesting. I never really paid attention
to his neck. I just remember seeing pictures and being like, huh,
all right, but he is banking now. So that is Avatar.
The Way of the Water the Spoiler Edition. What would
you give it? I gave it a four out of five.
(14:59):
I mean I would I would probably give it a
four out of five. It was good four out of five.
I think that is a perfect rating for it. I mean, again,
a little long. But I will also say it's one
of those movies that I got up to go to
the bathroom like four times, and I came back and
I was never confused but what was going on, which
was great because sometimes in those movies you will leave
for like three minutes and you come back and it's
(15:19):
seventeen different tracks and lost. But I was able to
catch up quite nicely. Yeah, this one. Don't feel bad
about running to go to the bathroom. Grab second round
of snack. You're gonna need it. All right. Well, we
will come back and do your top ten books of
the year, and we'll do that next. All right, we're
(15:40):
gonna get into now your top ten books of the year.
Remind us again, how many you read this year? Is
a lot of books, and I don't think I'm gonna stop.
I currently I'm reading seventy six. Maybe I'll get to
seventy seven before next Saturday. And the episode we did
before this were books we thought would be good movies
later down the line. Yes, And I will say there's
(16:01):
a couple repeats. Okay, so here we go. Start us
off with your first one. Okay, So I have this
in two categories. So as a lot of people know,
I've read a ton of like world War two books
this year and it loves the World War two book.
Never thought that would be my genre, but here we
are interesting because you don't like war movies. They're just
too gory for me. They stressed me out. I like
warm movies that tell a story. I think that's why
(16:22):
I like the books. I don't like war movies where
it's like just like shooting, like what was the one?
Was it nineteen seventeen? No, there was one with um
Andrew Garfield has a rich has all rich gory stressed
me out, But like nineteen seventeen told a story for
the history aspect of it is what you like? Yes, okay,
so we'll get into your list. You have these in
(16:44):
no particular order. You just kind of broke them up
into categories, right, correct. I have two categories. One I'm
gonna give you just like a top five books of
the year, and then I'm gonna give you my top
five World War two books. Because if I just gave
you like top five books, they would probably all be
World War two books. So I've given you a lot
of movie recommendations over the course of this podcast, and
I also know that people also usually set a resolution
(17:06):
to read more. So these are all ones you would
recommend for that, right, Yes, So here we go. Kick
us off with your list. So my first one is
one that I talked about wanting to see made into
a movie. It's Beneath the Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan.
That was the first one I read this year. That
kind of gave me like the push to keep reading
World War two books because I wasn't in historical fiction
(17:27):
before that and now I can't stop reading them. So
this one was based on a true story of a
teenager named Pino Lela, and it's about him helping fight
the Nazis. And I don't want to give anything else away,
but it is based on a true story and the
author went to Europe, spent time with Pino, learned his
story to then be able to write the book. Yeah,
this is when you read and told me about like
(17:47):
almost every like every time you sat down and what
read a chapter, you'll be like, I gotta tell you
about this one. I couldn't stop reading it. So this
one just for me who hasn't read any books these years.
They got to me because of how much you loved it. Yes,
all right, so next time you list, what do you got?
So the next one is one I just recently read.
It's called The Circus Train, and it is literally about
a circuslan a train, but it's about this girl who
(18:09):
grows up on the train. Her dad is an illusionist.
And then it's set in the time of World War two.
And again I don't want to give too much away,
but it's then about like her dad and the love
of her life and how World War two impacts her
life along the years. Is easier read of more intense read.
I think this one was an easier, more like entertaining
(18:32):
read like less. I didn't feel it was too like
choppyond the History. Alright, what do you have next? Al Right? Next,
I have The Diamond I by Kate Quinn, who I
will say, like this. I started reading every book that
Kate Quinn wrote because they're all so good. So this
one is also based on a true story about one
(18:56):
of the best like um no sorry streets deadliest Female Sniper.
So she wins the award for Deadliest Female Sniper and
it's her true story about how she goes from being
just an average girl to learning that she's really good
with a gun and then fighting in the war. That
sounds intense. It was amazing, it was great. I love it.
And I think I actually gave all of these five stars,
(19:16):
if I remember correctly, all five star books. So these
are all my five solid recommendations. Here only solid, And
I will say again these are all typic place during
the war. There is heavy elements to all of them,
so I will give some fluffier reads. Okay, we'll get
to those later. Um okay. And then the next one
is The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rhymer and
(19:38):
once again said during World War Two. These are all
World War Two. Like I can't seem to pick up
a World War one book. It's only World War two.
But this one is about a It starts and a
young woman is saying her wedding vowels, and then it
kind of takes you back through how we got to
that point. Interesting, So is it all of flashback throughout
(19:59):
the entire book? Yes? And no? Is that hard to
read and go back and forth? Because when watching a movie,
usually they can differentiate by like the way a scene
looks or it shows you like a fade to black,
how do you do that in the book? So it
usually tells you in the chapter, like what talent at
seven and the time period. Sometimes I do have to
go back, like the one I just started um this
(20:20):
week for book seventy six is actually another Kate Quinn one,
and I got confused at first and had to go
back and say, okay, we went back and forth eight years.
So sometimes you do kind of have to, like go
back to the beginning of the chapter. I will say
that's my hardest thing to get over when reading, and
why I probably don't read more is it's hard to
slow my brain down to just read, and I feel
like I'm reading but not taking anything in. And I'll
(20:43):
go back to pages and I realize, I realized that
I don't read anything. See that was me when I
would read like textbooks. But when I'm reading a story,
I can get pretty locked in. I gotta work on it, all, right,
what do you have next in here? The last one
was my book and it happened to make it into
(21:03):
my being. The final one made it into my top five.
Like when artists writes the song at the very last minute,
it makes the album. Yep. So this one is All
the Broken Places by John Boyne, and he actually wrote
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which was a hit.
Didn't they make that into him? They I haven't read
the book or seeing the movie. You don't need to
have read the book to read this one. It's kind
(21:24):
of a sequel. It's technically Book two and The Boy
in the Striped Pajamas series, but you can read them separately.
So this one was really interesting because it tells the
story of a German woman and it's her life now
and you're going back and forth. But she was the
daughter of someone who was really high up in the
(21:44):
German forces and which really closely with Hitler, and so
you're instead of all these other books where you're kind
of reading from someone who was like under Hitler's like rule,
she is someone who was on the enemy side, and
so just seeing how she reckons with that and how
her life ends up. I thought that was really interesting
person I feel like that one could be a great movie.
(22:06):
I would imagine it would be great if The Boy
in the Striped Pajamas was made. That was one. I
think that one came out in two thousand and eight,
but that was a movie that a lot of people recommended.
I think I was looking for like a movie to
make me cry. So I remember watching it, but it
was still long ago. I don't think it made me cry.
I want to read the book next time on it's
on hold of the library for me, and I'm down
to rewatch that movie with you. All right, So what
(22:28):
is your next set of books? So these are just
like my top five of the year, some of some
of them are fluffy, I think, m m. Actually only
two of them are fluffy read. Okay, so let me
know which ones are the fluffy ones or somebody's looking
for a lighter read. Okay, we'll start with the fluffy
Um A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella. I would compare
(22:52):
it to kind of like a Lifetime movie in a book,
but less cheesy. But it's one of those or more
like an onso movie, think like New Year's Eve with
like a star studded Hollywood cast and everyone's life intertwines. Okay.
I like those kind of stories three people and their
lives intertwined. And I will say it's not fluffy in
the sense that it doesn't have anything sad. There's one
(23:14):
of the characters elderly widow. But it is so well written,
and it just is one of those that makes you
feel all the emotions and just reminds you like how
hard it is to be a human, but like how
beautiful it is in those moments of connection, like when
we get to be there for each other. I really
liked this one, and I've read his other books and
I really enjoyed What do you Got Next? Next, I
(23:35):
have the only other fluffy ish, The Measure, which I
also by Nikki Rlick. I know I talked about that
one when I wanted to see that one made into
a movie. Again, not fluffy in the sense that it's
light because it's everyone gets these mysterious strings and it
tells them when they're going to die, but in the
sense of like you don't have to keep up with
like time periods. As I guess, the only thing I
(23:57):
consider fluffy these days. I still think that will make
a great movie. I want to see that one. I
want to see that made into a movie. Um, yeah,
I think that would be really good. I haven't read it,
but we've talked about it that I would recommend it
without reading it all right. Next is Beautiful Country by
Chan Julie Wong, and that is a memoir she grew
(24:18):
up here her parents immigrated from Asia, and it's just
a really moving story about like the difficulties of growing
up as an immigrant child in the US. And yeah,
I just I loved it. Highly recommend it. I don't
want to give away too much of her story, but
I think everyone will read it and have an appreciation
(24:40):
for things that those of us born here and don't
have to go through. So very inspiring. Yes, I felt that.
I think the last movie I watched and it made
me feel like that was Minari, and Minari is kind
of along the same lines. It's an immigrant family who
moves to rural Arkansas, and I saw a lot of
what my family went through moving here. Of just I mean,
(25:01):
just learning how to speak English and getting a job.
The things that are seemed so basic are a lot
harder when you know this isn't your this isn't your country.
So I love inspiring stories like that, so and I
will I will correct myself. She actually immigrated as well.
She was seven the US and both of her parents
(25:23):
were professors in China, and then when they came to
the US, like none of their education was doesn't transfer.
It doesn't transfer over and so they had to start
in these kind of like ground level jobs. They went
from this like notoriety. Dang, that's crazy. Yeah, it was
really good. Got next, all right? So we have a mystery.
So those are my two. I love a suspense and
(25:44):
I love World War two. So this one is called
Firstborn by Will Dean, and it's one of the only
like mystery books I read this year that made me
gasp out loud because there's not one, but there are
two huge twists along the way that had me being like,
and I made some of my friends read it, and
one of my friends finished it like midnight, and she
text me and she's like, what did I just read?
(26:05):
So this was a you can't stop reading it once
you start. So it's about it's girls. She's twin. Her
twin lives in the US. She lives in London, and
she gets a call that her twin has been murdered,
and so she goes over to New York to try
to solve her murder. And you learned so many things
along the way that one sounds good and what's the
final one? Final one is one that I also I
(26:28):
stayed up, I think to like one I am reading,
and then texted all of my friends. I was like,
you have to read this. It's called Before We Were
Yours and it's by Elisa Wingate and it is based
on a true story of a woman in Memphis who
ran kind of like a child trafficking ring almost where
she would get like low income, illiterate parents. She would
trick them into signing their rights away and she would
(26:50):
kidnap their children and then sell them to wealthy families,
like of people who couldn't have their own children. And
it's the story. So this is it's based in a
true story. This woman really ran this ring, but the
characters are made up based on the children who this
happened too. But it's about this set of like siblings
and you kind of go back and forth to their lives.
They were living on a riverboat with their parents too.
(27:12):
Then what happens when they end up in the cow
they all get split up, and just what happens to
all those children? Hey, now it sounds pretty intense to
It was so good and I I had seen it before.
And sometimes they pick really weird cover art for books.
I'm gonna be honest times, cover art is a turn
off and this was a weird cover and I just
never and then I saw the synopsis of it. I
(27:33):
was like, oh, I actually do want to read them.
When picking a book, how do you find these? I
still get like, I don't know how you find all
these books. You had seventy five this year and you
read them all on your kindle, So it's not like
we have seventy five books stacked up here. And is
it by recommendations? Is it by just looking at the
cover the author? How do you find them? So I
(27:54):
follow several Instagram accounts of people that give REX, which
is why I started recommending things on Instagram and good
Reads because I was like, oh, that's like if I'm
influenced by like other people probably want to know different books.
So several like leads there. And then if I have
like an author that I really like, I'll just see
if they have anything new coming out, if they had
(28:16):
anything old that I missed. Sometimes I just browse on
or yeah, like Instagram, Amazon, I look a lot and
then I have the Libby app, which is how I
read from our library and it can recommend things to me.
So a lot of just like random recommendations I went through.
I'll find list like the top books of the year
that moved people, books that everyone or books that people
(28:39):
think everyone should read. I have random sources and now
anybody who needs a book recommendation has ten great ones
to check out ones. You can also follow me on
good Reads. I'll make Mike put it in the show notes. Yeah,
if you missed a title of one of these books
or an author, or you want the other six, you
can go click that link and see all of these
(29:00):
books we talked about. So that is the list. That
is our avatar spoiler review in your top ten books
of the year, anything else you want to say. I
challenge people to read more next year. I'm going to try.
I try. I genuinely love like at the end of
the day, and I know I read on a Kendle,
so it's still a screen, but it just helps my
(29:21):
brain unplug so much because it's just a kindle. It's
not find it's harder to read like on a kindle
app on a phone because you have all the other distractions.
But it's just my kindle. It's not doing anything else.
It's just a book. I light a candle, I pour
a glass of wine, like I'll turn the lights off
and it just helps my brain turn off. And I
feel like my brain has kind of gotten back to
(29:44):
being focused for longer stretches, because I feel like at
the beginning of the pandemic and we all turn to
our devices, I lost some brain cells. So I challenged
myself this year. And I think just finishing grad school
last year and not having any like it couldn't be
a straight A student anymore, not having like any goals
to work towards. I set like personal goals this year.
(30:04):
So it was read books, it was start taking more
workout classes, just like a personal challenge to grow my mind.
And it sounds so cheesy, better myself, but that's what
you did. It was like I I wanted to learn,
and I feel like I learned a lot, even in
fiction books. So because I know people will ask, well,
you set a goal next year, I don't think I will.
(30:26):
I'm also a very like when I start down a
path of something, I get a little obsessive, and so
I don't. I don't think I want to force myself
next year, Like this was just kind of a set
a high limit. But I think I'll just go back
to reading what I enjoy. This was more to remind
me too how much I loved reading and that I
don't always want to turn on the TV and just
(30:47):
like numb out and watch something mindless at the end
of the day. I kind of feel that way about
movies now, like I still love movies really now in
my free time, I enjoy more a movie that I've
already seen in familiar with and reminds me of, like
I don't know, being younger or a different time. I
feel like I watched movies to kind of take me
back to those places. But it also sometimes when watching
(31:08):
new movies, even like we're talking about Avatar, like we
probably wouldn't have watched that unless I was going to
review it for this podcast. So in some aspects, like
I feel like because of the podcast it feels sometimes
like work in a weird way, but I still enjoy it.
So I don't really put goals on myself of like
how many movies to watch an entire year, But I
(31:29):
feel like, although I feel like when it comes to
like Oscar season, we do get in that mode of
like I gotta watch every movie, we have to see
everything that's nominated, which coming up. In the next episode,
we will talk more about one of the best movies
out of the entire year that I feel like if
it doesn't win for Best Picture, I'm I'm rioting. I
will I'm writing as well. So come back for that episode.
(31:51):
Thanks everybody for listening to the podcast this year. Yes,
I have one more plug. I'm raising my hands. No
one can see that, but I'm raising me um. I
also to plug public libraries. I forgot how much I
love a public library, and because I do read on
my kindle, I was like, oh, I don't need a
library card. But there's this great thing called the Libby app,
and you just get a card from your public library
(32:12):
and you sign up and then you can read all
of your e books for free from the library and
you can download them on your kindle. And it is
changed my life and you probably appreciate it because I
spend way less money on books now because I forgot
that you could read the books. There's a weight sometimes,
but I currently have like fifteen books on hold, so
they just kind of cycle and I forget that I've
been waiting five weeks to read them. So that is
(32:34):
my plug for your public libraries. They're great. You can
do a lot of the public library I've seen here.
Ours even has like a seed program if you want
to start a vegetable garden. I don't know, I just
think we forget about all these resources. So support the libraries,
support the cinema, and support your local your local businesses,
(32:54):
do all the things local, support local shops, and listen
to local podcast like this one. So that's gonna do
it for this week and until next time, go out
and watch good movies and read good books, and we
will talk to you later. M
Host
Mike D
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