Five films currently in theaters, some of which I actually really liked… LBJ…Has there been a more underrated President than Lyndon Baines Johnson? One of my Top 5 favorite Presidents has had his legacy universally tarnished by Vietnam—a war that baby boomers must think is still going on judging by how their response to Trump…
Category: Mindless Mondays
Reviews: “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Foreigner,” “Geostorm,” “Suburbicon,” “Mountain Between Us”
All films currently in theaters for a nice change of pace, but not ones sufficiently exciting enough to give their own reviews to… Thor: Ragnarok…Is Marvel paying film critics? It’s a persistent theory among both DC fans and adults with good taste who wonder why Marvel product keeps getting rubber-stamped? How does a film like…
“Transformers: Whatever,” “The Wall,” “Despicable Me 3,” “Dean,” “Lowriders”
A grab bag of Summer 2017’s also-rans, but don’t worry folks, later today they’ll be no less than 10 other movie reviews of films currently in theaters… Transformers: The Last Knight…Have you ever wished that a “Transformers” film could be longer, make less sense, feature Anthony Hopkins in one of his most pitifully slumming it…
Book Reviews: Exit West, Do Not Be Alarmed, The Arrangement, All Our Wrong Todays, The Party
Five great books grouped together only by quality. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to see all five of these wind up in my “Best Books of the Year” list but I know at least one of them will… Exit West by Mohsin Hamid…Hamid’s mercifully slim, fully captivating tale of the war in Syria starts by…
Book Reviews: Afterlife, The Force, The Late Show, The Destroyers, The Switch
As if you needed any more thrillers or mysteries to get you through Halloween, but if you did… Afterlife by Marcus Sakey…Fantastic. Seek this book—about an electricity and fire-free afterlife called “The Echo” populated by “eaters” who can consume the energy of others—out now. Sakey does something incredible here: weaving together a compelling romance, tense action…
Book Reviews: Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, Essex Serpent, Saints and Misfits
Two YA books and a monster tale, because…well, why not? Although of them do deal with societal taboos in their own way. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee…A solid start to a new series of period-set YA adventure books following a bisexual British Lord (threatened to be cut-off by his father) on…
Book Reviews: The Long Drop, The Birdwatcher, Persons Unknown, Take Out, Celine
Now some mystery novels if you’d rather read that for Halloween. Since I didn’t truly love any of these books, the reviews will be fairly brief… The Long Drop by Denise Mina…This outrageous true story involves a man whose family is murdered, and even though he’s the prime suspect, he asks for the public’s help…
Book Reviews: See What I Have Done, Silent Coroner, You Should Have Left, Final Girls, I See You
If you’re in the mood for some scares—it is Halloween after all—check out these five thriller or horror books… Final Girls by Riley Sager…A group of “Final Girls” (women that are the sole survivors of horrific mass-murders) are rocked when one of the three dies in a shady suicide. The book’s best sections are the flashbacks…
Book Reviews: Boundless, My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Everyone’s a Aliebnb When UR A Aliebn Too
Illustrated books for adults are becoming more adventurous than ever, and these three graphic novels (though two may not be considered novels) all push the form in one way or another. In celebration of the art-form, I’ll keep these reviews mercifully brief… Boundless by Jillian Tamaki…An interesting collection of short stories that also–to me–felt a little…
Book Reviews: Lincoln in the Bardo, Chemistry, Anything is Possible, The Animators, Misfortune of Marion Palm
Is there anything more subjective than the literary novel? At least with movies and TV shows, there’s some broad criteria I might use to determine what’s good and what isn’t, but with literary novels (vastly different in prose, styling, plot–or lack of, and personality) it might really just boil down to your own personal connection with the…
Movie Review: Blade Runner 2049
An experience that really should be seen on a big-screen, even if it appears a lot of audiences are taking a pass on doing so… What Works: I was pretty much dead-against a sequel to “Blade Runner” (the director’s cut of which has one of the most debated endings of all time), and even if “Arrival”…
Movie Review: The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
One of Netflix’s starriest original film outings yet with Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Emma Thompson, and Dustin Hoffman all taking part in Noah Baumbach’s story of an aging sculptor and his grown children, played by Elizabeth Marvel, Sandler, and Stiller (who has a different mother than Sandler’s character, and there’s some resentment over the difference…
Movie Review: “American Made”
Based-on-a-true-story this lively drama almost feels like a comedy for the first three-quarters or so as Barry Seal invites you into his “Can you believe I’m getting away with this?” world. I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if Tom Cruise was nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy at the Golden Globes. What Works: The supporting cast…