July media diet

Well, that was fast. Somehow there's just one month left in the summer.  We've had a good one so far, in terms of books/TV/movies.  Here's my consumption in July.  As always, I haven't included anything that wasn't finished.  For example, there are 3 episodes left in Better Call Saul, and a couple in For All Mankind.  Devoted readers will get those in August.

Movies

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Starz on Demand | Greta is rewatching the Andrew Garfield spider-man movies and I was on the couch Sunday night when she started this one.  I half watched while second screening, but I do remember covering the red carpet premiere in 2014!  As for the film, it's a mixed bag.  I liked Garfield's take on the webslinger, but the film suffers from underdeveloped villains -- Jamie Foxx's Electro lacks conviction and Dane DeHaan's revitalized Green Goblin felt like a character they set up for the third and fourth movies they never made.

The Lost City - Redbox | Sandra Bullock turned 58 last week. 58! She teams with Channing Tatum for this paycheck.  Had a few LOL moments, but it’s not one Matt Gilmore needs to study at film school.

Thor: Love & Thunder - theatrical | Wanted to love it like I did Ragnarok, but can manage just one thumb up, one down.  Despite Thor’s stated wish to discover who he really is, he doesn’t seem to make much headway.  Or put another way: There’s no depth to his character.  Perhaps director Waititi didn’t think he could give that to a God, but it does help viewers if they feel like they can relate in some way to the main character.  Still, I liked the Marvel wink-wink jokes and the soundtrack.

The Hunger Games quadrilogy - DVD | I did not watch most of them, but thought I should record it here since most of the rest of the family did while at camp.  For some weird reason they watched the third film first, then the second, then the last.  I’m told the original will be watched at home soon.  I prefer the books, but wish the theme wasn’t so believable — feels kind of like we’re not far IRL from killing humans for sport.
 
I Want You Back - Amazon Prime | A mindless rom-com sometimes is just the thing.  This one stars Charlie Day from “Always Sunny…” and a bunch of actors that make you say, “Oh, I recognize him/her, what else were they in?”  In the end, it’s a few laughs and an enjoyable couple hours. Plus, true love.

"TV"

The Bear - Hulu | “Lip” from “Shameless” returns with another role where he’s smarter than everybody around him, but so committed to family that he can’t let go.  The EPs have some culinary background and the critics say the in-restaurant scenes are groundbreaking.  My favorite thing about it? 30-minute episodes, and only 8 of them.  The Interwebs tell me there will be a season 2, despite the tidy ending of this one.

Stranger Things, S4 - Netflix | Where to start?  They should have finished the story this season. Why do a season 5 when the actors who are supposed to be high schoolers will all be in their 20s?  I didn’t really understand the Alaska/Russia plot at all since the two storylines never really converged.  But I did appreciate the resurgent 1980’s music from Kate Bush and Metallica.

The Boys, S3 - Amazon Prime | If you thought Deadpool pushed the boundaries of the superhero genre, The Boys sets the bar so high with its shocking depravity that there’s no need for any other creative minds to try.  Parts of it are enjoyable — the skewering of the far right and Fox News - but some of it is just so gross that it’s easy to argue this kind of “entertainment” has no real place in a civilized society.

Books

The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom | A PEF colleague found out I review books for the AP and so in exchange for an early copy of John Grisham’s new collection, she gave me this book, her favorite of the last few years.  I didn’t have the heart to tell her I’m a devout atheist.  Props to Albom though — dude was a Detroit sportswriter before “Tuesdays with Morrie,” which is now the bestselling memoir of all time.  (I don’t find much to like in his spiritual pablum, but he still is quite trenchant about sports.  Check out The Sports Reporters podcast for good weekly takes.)

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (audiobook) | This occupied most of the 6.5 hour driving time from D.C.  Total recording time was about 14 hours, but it only took me a few days after getting home to finish it, between commuting, dog walks, and a nice Saturday bike ride. Fascinating stuff.  The juxtaposition of the creation and execution of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago with the activities of a con artist and possible serial killer named H.H. Holmes in the city during that same time period.  It’s categorized as nonfiction, but the Holmes stuff in particular is at least part conjecture.  I was struck both by how far we’ve come as a civilization in 120+ years and how humans will always be the most self-serving species — satisfying our desires and taking whatever we want from the earth without thinking about the consequences.

If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name by Heather Lende | Read this during our summer vacation at South Lake. Beautifully written essays published in 2005 from Haines, Alaska, where the author moved after graduating from my alma mater, Middlebury College, in 1984.  She was the obit writer at the local newspaper, the Chilkat Valley News, for two decades and crafted short life-affirming stories inspired by the subjects of those obituaries and her family.  I left it on the bookshelf at South Lake if anyone is interested.

The Hero of This Book by Elizabeth McCracken | I’m still formulating my AP review on this one (it doesn’t come out until Oct.), but since I read it in July, I’m including it here.  It will be sold as fiction, but it’s McCracken’s literary way of processing her actual mother’s death.  She just refuses to call it a memoir, because her mother told her never to write one.  So she returns to London, a city they spent time in often together, to reflect on their life together and the lessons mom taught her.

Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid | Greta recommended this one, which she picked up at school before summer recess, on the recommendation of her AP U.S. History teacher.  It’s an oral history of a fictional 70’s soft rock band, loosely inspired by Fleetwood Mac.  There’s a pair of brothers, lots of sex, drugs, rock and roll, and of course, a girl.  It’s fast-paced and mostly fun, with a deep respect for the power of music to convey emotions people are afraid to show.