PJH Studios

Tag: recommend

  • Cabin in the Woods 4k

    I think Cabin in the Woods still succeeds in deconstructing the horror movie genre while placing Easter eggs as callouts to other movies and stories.

    Beginning with the cheery introductions of our characters, with an early career Chris Hemsworth playing the quintessential jock, the film leads us down a road to the middle of nowhere and stopping at a rundown gas station complete with a grizzled, creepy old man. Once the sun sets, Evil Dead vibes consume the woods, and our team makes the first of a series of bad decisions, descending to the basement, because a horror movie cannot exist without a series of bad decisions. If you pay attention to all of the different objects spread throughout the room, you’ll be rewarded when the film reveals the imprisoned menagerie of monsters.

    Chaos ensues. As the gang is killed off, we meet our villain, played by Sigourney Weaver, who attempts to reason with our final girl, played by Kristen Connelly. Typically, the final girl perseveres with grit, determination, and wits–the last person with any agency to make a choice–to defeat the villain and survive. Connelly’s character makes a choice that makes the ending surprising and unique.

  • Lost Tomb by Douglas Preston

    The Lost Tomb: And Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burials, and Murder by Douglas Preston collects his nonfiction essays from across nearly 40 years of writing. The flashy subtitle is accurate but told through pragmatic prose using anthropology, archaeology, and a dabble of political science.

    When successfully combined, they create a taut narrative such as the Monster of Florence or the Dyatlov Pass incident. Other times they come across as dry character studies, where history is examined.

  • Cheez It Snap’d White Cheddar chips

    Cheez It Snap’d White Cheddar chips are a crunchy cracker variation of Cheez Its. They offer that salty snack fix with enough flavor to satisfy, but not hang around or taste too artificial.

  • Redwood Empire Grizzly Beast Bourbon

    Grizzly Bear is a bottled in bond straight bourbon whiskey from California. At 90 proof it’s full bodied, leans on the sweeter side of bourbon with cherry, maple, and brown sugar, with a long finish.

    This is my second bottle, and definitely one of my go tos for a drink. I still need to try Redwood Empire’s other offerings, which include high rye and other blends.

  • Kill Bill in 4k

    Uma Thurman in Kill Bill vol 1

    It’s been of the 20 years since I’ve watched Kill Bill vol 1 and 2, Quentin Tarantino’s homage to 70s era kung fu action movies and Japanese cinema. That’s a long enough time that upon rewatch, it was like experiencing them for the first time again – only this time in 4K with surround sound, not a bad DVD copy on a CRT computer screen with minute speakers.

    Both movies still hold up. Colorful costumes and cinematography, engaging dialogue, an excellent stunt work in choreography for the fight scenes, particularly the nod to Lady Snowblood.

    In Kill Bill Volume 1, The Bride (Uma Thurman) faces off against O-ren (Lucy Liu) in a snow covered garden.

  • Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham

    Midnight in Chernobyl is a meticulous examination of the Chernobyl disaster. It accounts for the bureaucratic neglect the Soviet system grew into that contributed towards key events. Neglect that contributed to the way the plant and reactor were designed, the town and state response, and the attempted cover up. Plus, it tells of the horrific human toll paid by those exposed to the radiation.

  • Homemade crunch bars

    Do you like chocolate, peanut butter, a gentle but satisfying crunch with a light touch of salt? Here’s a super easy homemade crunch bar recipe in 15 minutes (plus chill time).

  • This is the Tom Green Documentary

    This is the Tom Green Documentary is an insightful work of nostalgia, showing his rise, how he made it work, and how he understood media and technology. The documentary serves as a segue to his new reality series on Prime.

    He performed TikTok, street style pranks before Gen Z was born. He executed Jackass style physical stunts before the Jackass crew got together. He even produced a web stream talk show before podcasting became a word.

    Green’s parents and friends all appear, and towards the end, there’s a contemplative aura about him.

  • Flow

    A wondrous journey, through realms natural and mystical, Flow follows a courageous cat after his home is devastated by a great flood. Teaming up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog to navigate a boat in search of dry land,

    Flow really was a magical movie. No talking, just a motley crew slightly anthropomorphized animals navigating through beautiful scenery. Throughout the movie, we see hints of a higher level species (humans? who knows!), and you can’t help but wonder how or why this is happening.