Larry's 100

Drabble

Kahi and Lua: Tales of the First and Second

Melissa Llanes Brownlee, 2022

A novella in flash fiction chapters about Hawai'ian gods living in late-stage capitalism. Kahi, the chaotic destroyer, and Lua, the philosophical creator.

Through keen observations of modern life and immortality, Brownlee uses the characters to reflect on the beauty and sadness of existence. Far from dour though, the stories are funny and use sly pop culture commentary.

Both the length of the book and vignettes show how wisdom can be conveyed with an economy of words. The characters are fully formed in twenty-nine short stories. By story's end, the reader is both primed and gobsmacked by its finality.

Read it.

brownlee

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The Secret Agent: Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2025

A nuanced film about the complexities of life under a dictatorship. Set in 1977 Brazil with time jumps to its modern era, the story follows engineer “Marcello” as he attempts to flee Brazil with his son before a government-backed capitalist finds and kills him. 

The movie harkens back to a 70’s Hollywood political thriller with a dense plot, rich characters, and storytelling that trusts the audience. The movie is visually striking, and Filho follows side stories while bending genres.

Actor Wagner Moura, playing two roles, has the most on-screen charisma of any lead performance I saw in 2025.

Watch it.

Agent

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A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, HBO (2026)

Episodes 4-6 (Spoilers)

See review of 1-3 here

The origin story of Dunk & Egg’s team-up takes a darker turn in the second half of the premiere season. Due to his innate goodness, Dunk finds himself in power’s crosshairs, and Egg is revealed to be the nickname of princeling Aegon Targaryen. 

This show shrinks Westeros down to an intimate experience; we have never spent this kind of quality time with the Smallfolk. Steely Pate, the armorer with a heart of gold, is an elite side character. The closing scene sets up season's worth of storytelling and an effective denouement to the black-and-blue bruising of the previous episode. 

Watch it.

Knight

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Shoresy Season 5, Episode 1: Keep It Simple. Hulu, 2026

Note:

I will be reviewing every episode of Season 5

If I showed you the premiere of the fifth season of Shoresy, you’d cycle through:

1.  This is the most profane thing I’ve seen on television

2.  I can’t stop laughing

3.  Am I crying?

4.  Can I watch more?

5.  Are we drinkin’ beers?

Shoresy is to prestige TV what a dirty limerick is to poetry. It’s also the empathetic but raunchy cis-hetro older brother to the hit show, Heated Rivalry. That isn’t just a good line. Jared Keso, the creator of Shoresy, and HR creator Jacob Tierney partnered on Letterkenney and Shoresy’s early seasons. 

Catch up on it.

Shoresy

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Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die Gore Verbinski (2026)

Maybe only absurdist satire can shock society out of the techno-death spiral we are diving into. Verbinski’s movie posits just that, exploring the humor wing of the Black Mirror genre. Cat-centaurs, Mar’s Attacks’ rayguns and malicious toys are mere flourishes in this bonkers cautionary tale. 

The plot is Terminator if it were mainlining a chemical cocktail of Monty Python and LSD. Geoffrey Zanelli’s score signposts the plot like video game music.

Sam Rockwell’s messenger from the future is a career time-capsule role, and he leads a talented cast that grounds the film’s hopeful humanitarianism. 

Buy a ticket, take the ride.

Good Luck

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Marty Supreme, Josh Safdie (2025)

A frenetic thrill ride beginning in the Lower East Side tenement buildings of NYC to become a globetrotting misadventure, ping-ponging across Europe, Africa, Japan, and New Jersey. Loosely based on real-life Ping Pong shark Marty Reisman, the movie is a mash-up of The Hustler and True Romance.

The plot borders on ridiculous, but the film is fueled by Timothy Chalamet’s charisma, ensnaring us into his madness. Hyper-stylized, with anachronistic needle drops, the movie feels contemporary until you see a car or a rotary phone.

Safdie assembles a cast that includes reality show stars, rappers, and Gwyneth Paltrow. 

See it.

Marty

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An Alpine Holiday, Hallmark Channel 2025 (2.5/5 Hot Chocolates)

Read more #100HotChocolates reviews

Two aspects differentiate An Alpine Holiday: authentic French Alps sets (no fake snow!) and a story that focuses more on sibling relationships than romantic entanglements.

A last wish sends two sisters on a quest to retrace their grandparents' alpine love story. Ashley Williams, a Christmas movie regular with quirky comic timing, plays one of the sisters. Their tension drives the plot, each carrying a sleigh full of grievances and regrets to unwrap.

The rest? Weak romance cider. One gets a limp French tour guide, and Williams has a nonsensical marriage epiphany about her dweeb back home.

Only for Hallmark Heads.

An Alpine Holiday

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Pluribus Episode 5: Got Milk

See 100 Word reviews of previous episodes here

Being yourself is lonely. After Carol's interrogation of Zosia backfired, making the whole world hive-mind cry, the Others are giving her the silent treatment. They convoy out of Albuquerque and rely solely on recorded updates and drone interactions. Her only social outlet is video messages to the other twelve soloists. 

Sparked by moments of action and levity with her co-opted police car, Carol's solitude, with help from a pack of canines, lets her grieve Helen.

Carol becomes Agatha Christie as a series of clues eventually leads to an abandoned dog food factory and a classic episodic TV cliffhanger.

Watch it.

Milk

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Pluribus Episode 4: Please Carol

See 100 Word reviews of previous episodes here

Carol can’t help herself as she amps up her war on the Uni-Consciousness. Fun with chemistry turns disastrous as she concocts new ways to hurt Zosia et al.

Watching television crafted by Vince Gilligan is like being in the hands of an artisan who makes beautiful things. As much as the Big Ideas of Pluribus are a philosophy class, the small moments like Carol setting up her camera (has a memory card ever been so cinematic?) or the Paraguayan’s existence in his bunker, communicate vividly.

Some might view Pluribus as a bold defense of individualism; I am not so sure.

Rhea Seehorn as Carol in Pluribus Season 1, Episode 4, “Please, Carol.” Photo credit: AppleTV

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Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers That Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe by David M. Perry, Matthew Gabriele (2025)

Warnings from the Carolingian Empire about our current era. To be familiar with 2025, we get Brinkmanship, bloody battles, and family infighting deconstructed and reexamined. Charlemagne’s offspring did not honor him.

Perry and Gabriele are dynamic public historians, deploying a lively narrative and sharp scholarship. The use of poetry and participant reflections builds empathy for players in this epic soap opera.

I appreciate the reminder that egos, power-mad schemers, and an endless supply of nepobabies are centuries-old tropes. The authors spare no one as they posit elites can be the stupidest of us, then and now.

Place a library hold.

Oath breakers

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