NickSchaden

Trust the creators with film restorations

09.23.25 | film | ∞

Over the past few years film restorations have exploded in popularity, driven by demand from reparatory theaters and UHD Blu-ray collectors. Boutique labels like Criterion, Arrow, and Shout Factory have upgraded once shoddy releases into pristine 4K transfers. The projects span a wide range of decades and genres, from Barry Lyndon to RoboCop, High and Low to Se7en, Hard Boiled to A History of Violence.

But restorations often generate controversy. Critics argue the restorations go too far, distracting from a movie’s original artistry and aesthetics, and in some cases edging into remake territory. For example, the 2021 restoration of Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Love shifted the color palette towards greens, muting the the reds and whites of earlier releases. Many complained the colder color palette dulled the movie’s lauded costuming and cinematography. Similarly, David Fincher’s updates to Se7en used digital touchups to replace actors heads, change backgrounds, and reframe shots. Online debates broke out on whether Fincher’s edits ultimately helped or distracted from the final picture.

The restoration debate is ultimately about ownership. Should restorations honor the creator’s intent or the audience’s original memory? And how far can you restore a movie before it becomes a different work altogether?

Making smart film recommendations

08.21.25 | film | ∞

Smart, tailored film recommendations are one of the best ways to get friends and family more into movies. The right selection can open someone’s eyes to great cinema beyond Netflix originals and the occasional blockbuster at the local multiplex.

For many people, it’s not that movies are universally bad, it’s they rarely encounter films they really love. Local theaters show few films outside of big franchise blockbusters. Theaters are often old, with expensive tickets and unruly audiences. At home, algorithmic-based streaming recommendations tend to be poor and unfocused. Finding good movies can feel like chasing a moving target. Digital rental and streaming release dates are often unclear. Movies regularly shuffle in and out of streaming services every month.

However, through streaming services and digital rentals, a mainstream audience can access more high quality movies than ever before. Good recommendations in this landscape need minimal resistance. Access and convenience are key. Focus on movie recommendations from digital services your audience already uses regularly, be they monthly subscription services or rental stores. Services like JustWatch help to browse what’s available across multiple services.

The case for SteamOS hardware in a fragmented gaming industry

08.04.25 | Gaming | ∞

Imagine a small box running SteamOS that easily pairs with a TV or monitor. It would be more powerful than a Switch 2 but cost under $400. This kind of hardware flopped a decade ago, but today it could attract a large audience. Against a gaming industry that faces widespread challenges, Valve stands out as one of the few companies to potentially disrupt the market with small form factor PCs. Sony and Nintendo wouldn’t face immediate threats from such a device. But the strengths of this Valve branded hardware — lets call it the Steam Machine 2 (SM2) — would be hard to beat. The SM2’s simplicity, breadth, and price would be virtually unrivaled.

This hardware would offer a largely console-like experience out of the box, refined through years of SteamOS iterations on the Steam Deck. Players would also get access to the largest, most diverse gaming library available. Steam’s catalog is practically endless, including longstanding franchise hits, indie viral streaming sensations, and most of Sony’s and Microsoft’s first party titles.

The SM2 would also be comparatively affordable. The hardware would be cheaper than a Switch 2 or PS5, without multiplayer access fees in the form of a PlayStation Plus or Xbox Game Pass. Unlike games sold on console or physical marketplaces, most Steam games go on deep discount several times a year.

Films that define the 2020s

07.14.25 | film | ∞

Now that we’re halfway through the 2020s, I’ve been thinking about which films will be regarded as the best of the decade many years from now. To stand out among tens of thousands of movies requires widespread critical appreciation that deepens over the years, along with enough originality in a film’s plotting or construction to keep it to memorable decades later.

Using that logic for the 2010s, I’d include films like Children of Men, Mad Max: Fury Road, Phantom Thread, The Social Network, and The Tree of Life. Each movie is broadly appreciated today, regardless of how many wins it received from various critics groups and craft guilds they received at the time. Each also stands out for its bold, original filmmaking, even if the film’s distinctiveness may not be apparent at first glance.

Take Phantom Thread, which has the outward appearance of a stately, serious period piece. But Paul Thomas Anderson injects enough humor and cattiness to make the picture play like a romantic comedy. He adds modernist flourishes like coded S&M and a partner who grows from muse to equal.

We undervalue how challenging it is to be both critically lauded and steadfastly original. Most movies that regularly crowd top ten lists and win Oscars succeed in one area but not both.

Decoding 4K movie quality

06.26.25 | Technology | ∞

4K movies are almost always objectively better than their HD counterparts, but how much better? What visual improvements does the more expensive 4K UHD provide over a standard Blu-ray? When is it worth splurging on a 4K digital copy over an HD version available on streaming? Do you have to be a film enthusiast with a high end TV to appreciate the difference?

Complicating matters, not all 4K upgrades are created equal. The gap between a poor and high quality transfer is noticeable to even the most untrained eye. This topic spawns heated debates across enthusiast sites like Blu-ray.com and the 4K Blu-ray subreddit. These discussions can get highly technical, with commenters dissecting zoomed in screenshot comparisons and debating compression methods.

Fortunately, you don’t have to invest as much research as the hardcore crowd. Two basic features about any movie will, in most cases, predict how beneficial 4K will be.

Read it later apps help us stop doomscrolling

06.10.25 | Technology | ∞

It’s sad to see Pocket, one of the best read it later apps, unceremoniously shut down by parent owner Firefox. The app deserved better. Read it later apps separate reading from browsing, providing a refuge from the attention economy and endless doomscrolling. They are practical tools that benefit almost everyone.

Originally, read it later apps were originally built to address poor mobile bandwidth and other tech constraints. Today they combat cluttered designs from sources like The New York Times, Bluesky, Reddit, and Semafor. Design patterns like infinite scroll, autoplay, and recommendation lists push users toward another article or video. This abundance drives engagement, which in turn drives revenue.

While this noisy design ethos helps us browse and gather news quickly, it rewards mindless consumption and information gathering on autopilot. When browsing, there is always another enticing piece of content that promises another dopamine hit. We feel pressure to skim articles, cut content short, or skip reading entirely to reach the next headline or short video. Deep reading and reflection suffer as a result.

Prestige TV lost its way with The Last of Us Part II

05.28.25 | Gaming | ∞

After experiencing two seasons of TV and thirty hours of gameplay, it’s clear The Last of Us delivers an uneven, hit-or-miss experience. Characters are a strong suit, thanks to impeccable casting by HBO and Naughty Dog plus universally solid acting. However, part II of TLOU — The Last of Us Part II (TLOU2) game and the show after season one — suffers from serious flaws. It feels overstuffed, flattens characterization, and struggles with its darker thematic elements. What begins as an engrossing two-hander with a smart moral dilemma devolves into cruel, anonymous “cycle of violence” genre fodder. (Major spoilers for TLOU ahead.)

Part II’s biggest problem lies in how its main characters — Ellie, Dina, and Abby — feel severely underwritten compared to Joel and Ellie in part I. Character arcs are practically nonexistent. The story skips over reflection and introspection about the impact of these characters’ revenge-fueled warpaths. When such moments do appear, they feel merely perfunctory.

Price shocks will force the gaming industry to adapt

05.08.25 | Gaming | ∞

Gaming consoles and games have seen unprecedented price increases over the last month. Xboxes and PlayStations now cost between ten to twenty percent more than they did at their launch five years ago. Anticipated games like Mario Kart World and the next Call of Duty will sell for $80, breaking through the existing $70 price ceiling.

Gaming markets shouldn’t work this way. Consoles have always dropped in price over time. Game prices eventually increase, but never this aggressively; the last jump from $60 to $70 occurred only three years ago. These price shocks make an already pricey hobby even more expensive and will damage the console gaming market irrevocably.

Let’s examine how we got here. Two forces, one sudden and one gradual, arrived simultaneously in mid 2025. One followed textbook economics. The other was a progressive reaction to a slowing console market.

Streaming services are burying film history

04.28.25 | film | ∞

High quality older movies are hard to find across most streaming services. Titles more than a decade old are largely buried under noisy home pages and poor algorithmic recommendations. Even specific searches for a title, actor, or director often give disappointing results.

When we lose cinema’s past greats, I worry we’re losing a treasure trove of films that could appeal to potential movie lovers. Without them, many view movies only as modern blockbuster franchises, limiting their interest to occasional trips to the multiplex.

Older movies expand our perspective through the lens of different time periods and creative teams. Many remain exceptional highlights of genre or showcase remarkable performances. Mainstream studio releases from decades ago regularly featured original, non-franchise stories across a range of genres. Genres that were once commonplace — romantic comedies, courtroom dramas, adult-oriented thrillers — rarely get much exposure given today’s blockbuster-dominated theaters. Ultimately, a richer back catalog encourages interest in the medium.