February media diet

As promised, month two of the books, TV shows and movies I read and watched last month. Links to my AP book reviews are provided where available. The lack of TV shows is because we're still working through Superstore as a family (most of season 4 and season 5 to go), while I watch Better Things and Snowpiercer on my own and Carey watches Grey's Anatomy and the kids watch who knows what (Bob's Burger's recently, for Linc). I'll continue to post TV shows only after I've seen the series finale or the latest season finale.

Movies

CODA - Apple TV | I’m fine giving it the Oscar. Both Carey and I choked up at times. It’s touching, sweet and says so much in its silence.

The King’s Man - HBO or Hulu | If most sequels are bad ideas, threequels are even worse. Not much redeeming to say about this one. Rasputin steals the show and he dies with an hour left. Spoiler alert.

Nightmare Alley - HBO | I didn’t realize this was a remake, just that it was a Guillermo del Toro joint, and I do love his work. This one was a quite a bit less fantastical than his best stuff, but the lighting was amazing and the actors really seemed to enjoy themselves. I can’t see it winning the Oscar, but it sure was nice to watch at home!

The Sky is Everything — Apple TV | Killing time on Super Bowl Sunday and gave this a whirl. A weird and musical and colorful take on grief and love through the eyes of a teenage girl. The acting is on par with the Kissing Booth movies, so that's very high praise. Best thing about it is the clarinet soundtrack.

Deadpool 2 — Hulu | Less shocking than the original, but the rare sequel that doesn’t disappoint. It was my third time seeing it, but the rest of the family’s first. Ryan Reynolds redeems himself for Green Lantern and I’ve had a crush on Morena Baccarin since Homeland.

White House Down — Starz | It took us about 30 minutes to agree on something one random Friday night, but when we finally picked this Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx classic, I think all were happy. Director Roland Emmerich sure knows how to blow shit up.

No Time to Die — Redbox | Spoiler alert: I forget, when other actors chose to stop playing Bond, did they blow them up with multiple missiles launched from ships? Poor Daniel Craig. Changed the very image of Bond from debonair playboy who never gets his hands dirty to a backstreet brawler trained to kill in any way possible. And yet in the end he’s such a softie that he opts to DIE rather than stay away from two females the rest of his life? Feels like Ian Fleming would have written it differently.

Books

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates — Wondering what billions can buy you? Optimism. The Microsoft Man truly believes that technology and innovation will extend the time our species lives on Earth. Cool to read about some of the stuff, but I’m 50 now and I’ve seen enough of humanity to know we are too self-centered to sacrifice on a grand enough scale to make this book come true.

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley — A beach read in February! Seems the pandemic messed up the publishing world as well. Tries hard to shock but mostly just keeps you turning the pages. In the end, fairly empty calories.  

The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman — For this Gen Xer, a pleasant mix of nostalgia and academic analysis of the years that constituted most of my 20s. I’ve read reviews from the NYT and New Yorker that took it far too seriously. Don’t, and you’ll enjoy it more.

TV

The Righteous Gemstones -- HBO | Count me in for anything Danny McBride does. Eastbound & Down, Vice Principals, now this - they're all great. He teams with Beavis & Butthead creator Jody Hill for this comedy, which skewers televangelism straight through the heart. Just pushes comedy to the very edge and beyond, all the time.

The Book of Boba Fett — Disney+ | Nothing will get rid of the aftertaste left by the Star Wars prequels, but I grew up making this bounty hunter action figure fly with his jetpack and so seeing it happen, repeatedly, is pretty great.  You can keep the candy-colored toaster bikes though.