September 2025: The Monthly Reading, Watching, Etc. List

If you told me that this movie was a formulaic amalgamation of Top Gun and Days of Thunder, you’d be right. And if you asked me if I cared, I’d tell you “no.” In a world of utterly predictable reboots, reimaginings, and boilerplate action movies, F1 didn’t trod new ground, but it did everything just right.

You remember when you were a kid, and you saw Indiana Jones for the first time and you were like, “I’m gonna be an archaeologist when I grow up.” And then you saw Top Gun and were like, “Nah, I’m gonna be a fighter pilot when I grow up.” And then you more than likely grew up and got a somewhat boring job? But there’s probably at least one archaeologist and one fighter pilot who stayed true to that dream.

Well, I think kids are gonna watch F1 and be like, “That’s it, I’m going to be a Formula 1 driver.” And at least one of them is gonna make it.

I remember the critics’ consensus being that F1 was a recycled trope…. And in a world of utterly predictable reboots, reimaginings, and boilerplate action movies, F1 didn’t trod new ground. But it did everything just right. And that’s exactly why it’s so good. It wasn’t trying to be something it’s not. It was a perfectly-executed, well-trodden story, and I can’t wait to watch it again.

I love Thrawn. He’s one of my favorite Star Wars characters. He’s a villain, sure, but when you learn about him, you see there’s more depth than what you first see. Which is why I loved the first book in the Thrawn Ascendancy origin-story trilogy. It gave us a chance to see where Thrawn first learn to apply his military genius. But by this third entry, we hardly even see Thrawn. It was an okay story with some likable characters, but definitely the weakest entry in all of the Thrawn books.

My best friend is a military-history connoisseur, and he gifted this book to me as part of our unofficial book exchange. It was a wonderful book, written by a great storyteller. I really appreciated how it was a “boots-on-the-ground” view of the formation and history of Delta Force, rather than a list of dates and events. It really injected a new depth of understanding and humor into learning — an understanding that would likely be lost in a more traditional “history book” approach to the subject.

I saw a Reddit post along the lines of “What’s your comfort movie? The movie you always throw on in the background when you just want to relax on the couch”, and I was shocked how many people answered Chef. I remember when the movie came out a few years ago, but I never got around to watching it (despite my love for most everything Jon Favreau makes). And I totally get the sentiment.

It’s like a Hallmark movie for people who use the words “shit” and “fuck” in regular conversation. It was predictable and formulaic, but it was just so well done (just like F1). John Leguizamo was perfectly endearing, and the cooking scenes left me starving. All in all, if I’m bored on a Sunday, I’d probably put this on.

I loved the Naked Gun reboot, but the originals are pure genius and just can’t be beat. Leslie Nielsen’s comedy delivery is in a league of its own. One moment that stood out to me is the classic scene where Nielsen’s character, Frank Drebin, pretends to be an umpire at a baseball game. Watching it again, I realized Frank Drebin is essentially the original Michael Scott. He embodies that same desperate-to-please, thrive-on-the-audience energy that makes Michael Scott so unforgettable. He notices how the crowd loves when he calls strikes, so he just keeps calling them. It’s pure Michael Scott charisma, decades ahead of its time.