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…
Movie Review: The Brilliant and Polarizing “mother!”
This is the rare “Love it or hate it” debate where I absolutely love what’s being debated. Congratulations go to Jennifer Lawrence for starring in one of the boldest, most alienating films an A-list actress at the peak of her career ever has starred in. And director Darren Aronofsky has outdone his big-budget “Noah” for…
NEW Movies: “Kingsman 2” and “The Snowman”
Two junk thrillers that are still in theaters, but not quite good enough to get their own reviews… Kingsman 2: The Golden Circle…Although the film is financially successul (sort-of), I can’t imagine people are really that thrilled when they walk out of the theater. This is a disappointment to the original “Kingsman” film in almost every way…
Reviews: Documentaries on Spielberg, Joan Didion, “Tickling Giants,” and Lady Gaga
There’s something inherently fascinating about documentaries about artists, and what a collection we have to choose from with new docs on the world’s most famous living film director, a legendary 60’s writer, a mega-successful pop star, and an Egyptian political satirist trying his best to poke fun at encroaching fascism… Spielberg…If you go outside Hollywood…
Reviews: “Chuck,” “Wakefield,” “Beatriz at Dinner,” “Megan Leavey,” “Before I Fall”
If that last quintet of big-budget turkeys left a bad taste in your mouth, check out these four prestige dramas named after their main characters, and a young adult fantasy lumped in mostly because I didn’t have another place to put it… Chuck…I count myself as a fan of the “Rocky” franchise like pretty much…