Inspired by Bryson

Death Note (2017) - Review My investment: A short 101 minutes, and one that I didn't pay 100% attention during that time. The sales pitch: A new take on a beloved anime as it is brought to the big screen and set in an American high school. The reality: A beloved anime series is stuffed into 101 minutes and for no reason at all it's set in America. The good: Ryuk and L are good, both have good actors and the characters translated well from animation to live-action. This could have been difficult with Ryuk because his image is very jarring compared to the human characters, but they made this a less harsh comparison by often keeping him in shadows. L, on the other hand, is very different from his anime self. There are enough illusions to the original character to keep the fans happy, and carefully calculated changes to make the character more appropriate for a Western audience and live-action depiction. My highlight: The deaths are enjoyably gory. The bad: The...

Mad Men (Seasons 1 - 6) My investment: I have watched around 60 hours of this show in about 3 weeks, and I have chosen to watch another episode instead of an extra 45 minutes sleep on numerous occasions. The sales pitch: Follow Don Draper, his business associates and many (many, many) lovers through the 50s and 60s while he flourishes at his job in advertising, and tackles his personal life with less grace. The reality: People have conversations with each other, sometimes they smoke while having these conversations. Sometimes they have conversations about smoking. There are lots of men. There is not a lot of madness, and even the little madness that happens is often quite tame. The good: The show is undeniably well made. It is well written, (generally) well acted, beautifully costumed, highly detailed and never overly clich é . Despite the characters making many questionable choices, I still need to watch the next episode because I care about them and where their stories ...