Aaron N. Hall's Blog, page 4

No Time to Die is a different breed of Bond. That’s good.

Daniel Craig said back in 2016 that he’d rather slash his wrists than do another James Bond movie. But in the same year, he also said that he’d keep playing it for as long as he was physically able.

Well, it’s been about 15 years. He definitely had a good run, and No Time to Die is a great way to cap it off.

No Time to Die feels like a different breed of Bond, one that’s grown and matured in ways that feel natural. The team working on this film did more to push Bond in comedic and heartfel...

I’ve had an XBox Series S for one week. Here’s my review.

Costco has a knack for convincing me to buy things I don’t need.

I had been thinking for a while about getting the new XBox, especially with games looming over the horizon like Halo Infinite, Avowed, Starfield, and Elder Scrolls 6 (eventually). But I had told myself that in recent months I haven’t been in a financial position to buy a new console. Besides, they never sell for the list price. They’re always resold by greedy price gougers.

That’s when I went to Costco to buy dried mangos and...

We need more content like Star Wars: Visions

Make no mistake, not every episode is a home run. But Visions is the kind of out-of-the-box content we need from longstanding IP’s like Star Wars.

When Disney announced they had reached out to reputable anime studios to put together a series of Star Wars short films, I was pretty excited. As someone who loves both Star Wars and anime, it felt like a winning recipe.

And why wouldn’t it be?? Star Wars and anime are both pillars of nerd culture. And considering the meteoric rise of anime’s po...

A love letter to Comic Con

Dear Comic Con/FanX,

It’s been five years now. Crazy, isn’t it? If we’re being honest, it’s more like six years, but it was because you had to take a break last year due to the global pandemic. I don’t blame you.

I’ve had some incredible experiences while visiting Comic Con–more specifically FanX Salt Lake. We don’t have to talk about that whole legal debacle with San Diego.

I got to meet some amazing voice actors like Dante Basco and John DiMaggio. I got to sit in on some panels includ...

It’s been twenty years.

I thought about writing something pertaining to pop culture today like I usually do, but that just didn’t feel appropriate.

It’s been twenty years since the attack of 9/11. At the time, I was just nine years old–a fourth grader in Mr. Keeler’s class. I had just walked into the classroom and dropped my backpack by the wall where I usually did. The TV was on. The TVs were hardly ever supposed to be on at school, only during class when the teacher was showing us something like Bill Nye or Nation...

Shang-Chi is kung fu movie first, Marvel movie second

Trust me. That’s a good thing.

There’s a lot of good to be said about Shang-Chi and not much bad. And honestly, the bad stuff isn’t really bad, it’s just stuff that could have used improvement. Is it worth one viewing? Absolutely. Is it going to be come your new favorite Marvel movie? Um… maybe. But probably not. Check out the blow-by-blow below.

The Good

The acting across the board in this movie is pretty strong. No lines feel hashed in or underdelivered, but everyone acts their charac...

I quit my job to be a full-time author

Yeesh. Well, here we go.

For over a year, I worked at a company that I enjoyed a lot. It sold a product that I believe in, taught me a ton about my profession, and introduced me to a lot of new friends. It was kind of the perfect place to work.

So why did I leave?

Well, it was for a handful of reasons, but the main reason is that my true passion lies in storytelling. If you’re reading this, that means you probably follow my blog and you’ve definitely figured this out by now. I love tell...

Free Guy is exactly the fun, feel-good flick we need

You know those movies that don’t set out to be anything more than what they are? That want to be a fun popcorn flick, but maybe give you just a little more? They’re not shooting for Oscars or anything, but just want to be an exciting, endearing flick for the people? Yeah. That’s Free Guy.

Guy is an NPC in an online video game that becomes self-aware. He yearns for something more than his typical lines and boring job, especially after the irresistibly gorgeous player MolotovGirl awakens someth...

The 10 best YouTube videos everyone forgot about

Remember the time when YouTube was a wild west of stupid videos? When getting a million views was something to brag about? Before streamers and content creators were making millions of dollars and appearing in celebrity tabloids?

Pepperidge Farms remembers.

Here’s a list of all the best YouTube videos from that era that you probably forgot about. Behold them in all of their 360p glory.

Neature Walk

I quote this at least five times a day. From “That’s pretty neat!” to “How neat ...

Anxxiety’s “Anxxious” is rock solid dark pop

Anxxiety is just more proof that Utah isn’t screwing around when it comes to its local talent. With the latest release of “Anxxious”, Anxxiety proves that he’s got the chops of any other chart-topping pop star. This rout is a fairly short listen–only 20 minutes. But what you’ll find here is as solid as any other top-produced pop album that you’ll hear out of Los Angeles.

The album starts off with “H8 U”, a song about trying to let go of a toxic person. “BELIEVE ME” laments the dishonesty of a...