May media diet

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A decent month by volume, but not a ton of quality here. 

Movies

The Batman - HBO Max | Don’t tell my 10-year-old self, but there is such a thing as too much Batman. No reason for this movie to exist in the wake of "The Dark Knight" trilogy. Adds nothing to the mythology, just recasts everyone. And the colorless cinematography, awful.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness - Theatrical | A lot zany, a little creepy, but not even sniffing my top 5 Marvel movie list. Still, Marvel movies are now the only reason to ever go to the theater. Plus, naming the new character “America” was a baller move from an espionage standpoint — imagine how lines like “America, trust yourself, trust your power” play in a Beijing multiplex?

Moonfall - Redbox | Even Halle Berry needs a paycheck now and again, apparently. This movie was exactly as bad as the title would indicate. But I love end-of-the-world disaster movies, so I spent the $1.25 to rent it. Should have saved that money for an iced coffee.

The Lake House - Netflix | Carey got to pick the movie on Mother's Day and this Keanu Reeves/Sandra Bullock supernatural romance was her choice. She's seen it half a dozen times and I've probably seen it half those times. We both love the concept -- love is truly timeless.

TV

Moon Knight - Disney + | This one went immediately to the bottom of my Marvel series list. For those of you keeping score it’s "WandaVision," “Loki,” “Hawkeye,” “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," and "What If…?,” though I think I missed a few eps of the latter. Anyway, the kids say I don’t know enough Egyptian mythology to appreciate “Moon Knight,” but I wanted more from Oscar Isaac than a ridiculous British accent.

Books

Sparring Partners by John Grisham | The guy who’s written almost five dozen bestselling legal novels tries his hand at a trio of novellas and guess what? Each of them probably should have been a novel. “Strawberry Moon” was the only one I truly enjoyed. Just 50 pages from the perspective of a young man on death row in his final hours as he tries to make sense of his life. Read my AP review.

Swing and a Hit: Nine Innings of What Baseball Taught Me by Paul O’Neill | You’ll never extinguish my flame for those Yankees teams that won four ‘ships in six years, but this book does its best. Poorly written, not nearly enough amusing or untold anecdotes, and a relentless focus on the art of something I don’t really care much about — hitting a baseball. He’s got 5 World Series rings and has been an awesome broadcaster on the YES Network for two decades now, so I think Paul O’Neill will survive my negative review.

Cabin Fever by Michael Smith and Jonathan Franklin | The books editor at the AP pleaded with me to review this one, I think as a favor to the publisher. The writers are two journalists and it’s a non-fiction account of one of the cruise ships that was at sea when COVID struck in March 2020. The 1,200+ passengers and hundreds of crew members spent six weeks trapped on board, as no country would allow them to dock and disembark. A few people died and hundreds were sickened, but given what the entire world went through, it honestly doesn’t seem that bad. Then again, my “lockdown” didn’t involve a 6’ x 8’ windowless room with bland meals left on a tray outside my door.