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Alan & Jono's Watching/Reading List: April 2025
🕑 Added 2025-04-30 15:00:42 +0000 UTCAlan:
Hello Heroes!
April has had very few showers. Hope there are more than adequate amounts of May flowers.
What I’m reading!
Before and Afters Magazine (Various Issues) by Ian Failes. This is a spiritual successor to Cinefex magazine and is a great resource for VFX professionals, but also just for people who are interested in the filmmaking process. Ian does in-depth reporting, either on a film, or on a VFX topic across multiple films. He also hosts a couple podcasts, and just seems like a lovely guy.
Influx by Daniel Suarez. Honestly, I didn’t care for this one. It kinda suffered from Chrichton-syndrome. “I wanna tell a story about X. What’s a cool sci-fi explanation for doing that?” Proceeds to come up with a technology that is far more interesting than the story he wants to tell. It wasn’t terrible. Just felt like a wasted opportunity.
When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi. It's just your typical moon-suddenly-and-inexplicably-turns-to-cheese sci-fi anthology story. We’ve all read/seen this story a hundred times. Lol. I’m a Scalzi-head. This was great. Not super-serious. Had some things, though nothing particularly deep, to say about humanity. But mostly it was just a good time with people being sarcastic to each other about the moon turning to cheese, then threatening to wipe out humanity by erupting a giant slice of moon-cheese into a decaying orbit. Pretty great.
What I’m watching!
Light & Magic S2 on Disney+. Is it self-congratulatory? Sure. Does ILM deserve a bit of self-congratulations for literally inventing visual effects as we know it, and allowing the explosion of amazing films and TV shows (and video games, frankly) that we’ve witnessed in my lifetime? Yep. I want 10 more seasons of this show.
The Studio on Apple TV+. I swear, I’m not just shilling for Apple here. They just make really really good shows! The Studio is incredibly crass and a bit mean, and it fills a whole I didn’t realize I’ve been missing since VEEP. Angry, venal, stupid people trying to lead large teams and do intelligent things? I’ll watch that all day. As long as the insults are creative. And they ARE!
The Residence on Netflix. HOLY CRAP GUYS!!! Friend of the show, Giancarlo Esposito gets murdered in the White House during a state dinner, and a bird-watching super-sleuth solves the case over the course of the season. It's incredible!!! I love a good Agatha Christie-style murder mystery, and this is the best one I've seen since the Knives Out movies! STRONG recommend on this one! (Rated M. Swears and blood and silly sex-talk.)
Casablanca. Guys, have you heard of this movie? It’s pretty good. Only my second time watching it (first was in my late teens. What can I say? Life-long movie nerd!) It’s even better now that I’m a grumpy old man, and I know a TON more about Hollywood history.
What I’m playing!
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Still flying around on my Ikran (her name is Storm, and she’s beautful. We’re best friends, okay!) killing human RDA soldiers and trying to restore Pandora to its natural state of beauty and wonder. But the Indiana Jones game just came out on PS5, so…
Watch Movies! (And television, and read books, and play video games)
Jono:
Hey all! Hoping that you're doing well and April's treated you right! This month in theaters I greatly enjoyed Ryan Coogler's Sinners (it's especially good in IMAX), as well as the 20th anniversary presentation of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Both experiences further cemented my bias that the theatrical experience is culturally vital and worth preserving and supporting.
At home I've been watching a bunch of movies for CT and making time to rewatch both Brooklyn Nine-Nine and the Mission: Impossible films leading up to this summer's grand finale. The former makes me giggle nonstop and the latter dazzles and thrills me.
I had also heard a lot of good things about The Chosen, and after seeing the lead actor on The Tonight Show I finally jumped in. Well-made and well-acted, no matter your personal beliefs or views.
As for what I'm reading, a friend gifted me The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson, so I'm starting that epic journey for the first time now!
I'm also playing something! I own several retro '90s arcade machines, and I've been loving the '90s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with my kids.
What about you all? What have you been getting into?
Comments
Sarah Rodrigues
I don’t actively watch The Chosen but when I’ve seen parts of it when my parents watch it I appreciate not only that it’s actually accurately cast but the characters actually feel like real, ordinary people. I feel like Biblical adaptations usually take a very serious/somber energy and style of speaking that makes even the humans feel both antiquated and dramatized; The Chosen makes Jesus and the Disciples relatable because they feel like an actual friend group and they talk and carry themselves in a way that makes them feel like they could be your neighbors
Rina D
Casablanca is one of my fav movies of all time. Plus has arguably THE BEST Russian character of all times and the best line in Russian 💛
Cinema Therapy
It's one of Alan's all-time favorite trilogies.
Nancyjane Bailey
I just finished the Mistborn. There is a lot going on in those books (themes, characters, plot)
Shilo Loree
I'm excited for Jono to read Mistborn and it would love to hear his thoughts on it. Brandon Sanderson's work have themes that feel natural and earned. His characters feel real and deal with real world issues and concerns. Even his magic systems are great fun. And as a writer his commitment to his fans is inspiring.
Toffee Dog
The first two Mistborn books were really fantastic. I never could finish the third. It just lost its juice or was taking too long to re-up the intrigue in the third story. Absolutely no regrets on reading the first and second, though!
simdoodles
omg I watched casablanca for the first time a couple months ago! totally one of those movies where you're like "ohhhh I see why everyone bangs on about it"
SaucyJTB
I finished Oathbringer in two days. I just couldn't put it down the first time I read it 😂.
Ayesha Ali
I'm almost finished with Oathbringer by Sanderson (and oh man! How is that Sanderlanche better and more satisfying than the last two?). That took me all month. And I'm watching the NHL playoffs, no time for TV (though one of my teams just got eliminated last night. No matter, we weren't supposed to make it, and every single game was absolutely wonderful playoff hockey)
Lydia Hartzler
Mistborn is FABULOUS. And ironically enough, I just started rewatching The Chosen! We have Prime this month so we also watched House of David - WOW. Also been watching The Divorce Insurance which is so funny and really sweet watching people work to move past their own divorces. G20 was a fun action movie, plus Unstoppable, The Tomorrow War (rewatch), Island, and True to Love. Read: A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic, A Fellowship of Librarians & Dragons, and Service Model (funny and subtle...and also not at all subtle sci-fi).
SaucyJTB
... Steris? Or Wayne?
tres 🫶🏻
I LOVED THE RESIDENCE!!! The writing, the cast, the staging, THE SET!? Phenomenal. It instantly made top 5 for me. Also, I'm a Christian, and I can't stand pureflix/typical low-budget, faith-based films. Going into The Chosen the bar was SO LOW, but instead of just making a decent show, they blew my expectations completely out of the water!! It is so good!!
Mary Flynn
MISTBORN!!! And you need to read the follow-up series too, it has my favorite Sanderson character.
