Movies: 2026 Oscar Roundup

I'm from a family of cinephiles, so I've seen quite a few of the movies nominated for this year's Academy Awards.  While nothing truly stood head-and-shoulders above the crowd this year, there were some decent films and performances that you may want to check out:

Blue Moon

The latest collaboration between Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon is a slice-of-life biopic following lyricist Lorenz Hart, the former songwriting colleague of Richard Rodgers.  The whole movie takes place on the opening night of Oklahoma!, Rodgers' first collaboration with new partner Oscar Hammerstein, with Hart being the odd man out. Hawke turns in a career-best performance as Hart, playing him as a complex bon vivant whose closeted homosexuality and tragic alcoholism help to humanize an irascible character at a low point in life.  Rating: 7/10

Marty Supreme

The Safdie brothers released dueling movies this year, the first since they ended their directing partnership in 2024.  Benny's film, The Smashing Machine, bombed at the box office and was largely shut out at the Oscars, while Josh's movie, Marty Supreme, got nine nominations, including Best Actor for Timothée Chalamet.  Chalamet plays Marty, a semiprofessional table tennis player who dreams of winning the world championship in Tokyo - the only problem is getting there.  Marty Supreme features the same sort of anxiety-filled hustling and brinkmanship as 2019's Uncut Gems, but some absurd plot points and an overlong 150-minute runtime drag the film down. Rating: 7/10

Sentimental Value (Affeksjonsverdi)

Norway's entry in this year's race for Best International Film is a gentle family drama from Joachim Trier. Stellan Skarsgård stars as a famous film director coming to terms with his two estranged daughters, played by Renate Reinsve and Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, after the death of their mother.  This is one of those movies that has "Oscar Bait" written all over it - a respected veteran actor looking for his first Oscar, a respected director looking for his first Oscar, and a plot about the importance of filmmaking.  I just wish it were a little more tightly edited. Rating: 7/10

Song Sung Blue

The Kate Hudson-aissance is upon us, with her luminous comeback performance in Song Sung Blue opposite Hugh Jackman. Based on the real-life escapades of Milwaukee husband-and-wife Neil Diamond tribute band "Lightning and Thunder" (Mike and Claire Sardina), this is a "feel-good" movie that trades emotional complexity for (pretty good) musical performances. But Hudson channels all the charm she brought to the screen as Penny Lane in 2000's Almost Famous, and you can't help but fall in love.  She has a decent shot at Best Actress this year. Rating: 7/10

Tech: Ball x Pit review

Roguelite "bullet heaven" games were popularized by 2022's mind-numbingly addictive Vampire Survivors, and ever since, indie developers have taken turns putting their own spin on the genre. The latest (and ballsiest) iteration? Ball x Pit, a Survivors-like from Kenny Sun that blends waves of enemies and power-ups with the block-busting action of Breakout and Arkanoid:

Like most of these games, there's little story to speak of: the city of Ballbylon sank into the earth in a great catastrophe, and you guide adventurers into the giant pit, seeking riches in the ruins. Your only defense against hordes of block-like enemies are the balls launched from your character, which carom around the playfield causing damage along the way. There are dozens of special balls for you to discover - fire, lightning, etc. - which can be evolved and fused to create devastating, screen-clearing combinations.

Ball x Pit is a fun timewaster, especially in portable form on the Switch 2. The gameplay is pretty simple (your only controls are move, aim, and fire) but the wide variety of characters and enemy types spices things up.  One character launches balls from the back of the playfield, another uses a giant shield to deflect balls Arkanoid-style, and still another turns Ball x Pit into a turn-based strategy game. My only gripes are that there's not much depth here, and there's a lot of grinding required to get all the characters and levels (including a somewhat tedious city-building minigame that I would have been glad to skip).

Rating: 80/100

Guns: Low recoil buckshot patterning

I have a shotgun class coming up later this month, so I've been testing out some budget low recoil 00 buckshot options.

While all of the loads cycled fine in my tacticool Remington 870 Wingmaster, none of the patterns were tight enough to be safe past 10-15 yards. Here are some typical patterns from 10 yards for each load:

PMC "One-Shot" Low Velocity Buckshot:

Fiocchi Exacta low recoil buckshot:

Rio Royal Buck low velocity:

 

I hate to sound like a commercial, but if you own a shotgun and think you might use it for anything beyond across-the-room distances, you need to stoke it with something like Flite Control or Versatite.

Food: Dry January (and Beyond)

Rates of alcoholism for lawyers are much higher than for the general population, and while I'm nowhere near having any kind of problem, I did notice that I was drinking most days of the week without even realizing it.  That, coupled with the latest scientific evidence that no amount of alcohol is "safe," has made me consciously reduce my alcohol consumption over the last few months.

The effects have been noticeable and immediate: I've lost weight, ran my fastest 5k and half-marathon times in years, and have slept deeper and longer (I've also mostly quit caffeine, too).

Going from 1-2 drinks a day to 1-2 drinks a week can be an adjustment, but thankfully, there are lots of non-alcoholic options nowadays.  While NA wine is still pretty terrible, the NA beers are close enough to the real thing that most casual drinkers (like me) won't mind the difference, especially at a meal or a party. 

Common NA beers that I can recommend are Heineken 0.0 (which is what you'll find in most restaurants and bars), Guiness 0, Blue Moon NA, and most of the Athletic and Partake brews. I hate the "hop water" or "hoppy refresher"-type concoctions (too thin and watery), and for similar reasons, I didn't like the beers I've tried from Clausthaler, BrewDog, or CERIA.

If you're embarking on Dry January (or beyond), I wish you the best!