June media diet

What, you thought I'd forget about the Internet's most exciting tradition just because I'm IN AFRICA?! Nah.

Hit Man — Netflix | Glen Powell stretches his acting chops and director Richard Linklater makes a fairly conventional comedy/action flick, based on the true story of a Louisiana college professor who moonlights as a fake hit man, working undercover for the cops to ensnare people who want to hire somebody dead. But when a beautiful woman tries to hire him to kill her abusive husband, our hero begins to believe maybe he could really be a hit man after all.

The Beautiful Game — Netflix | Bill Nighy shines as a coach of the English Homeless World Cup team, which is just as it sounds — homeless kids playing soccer against other international teams to keep them off the streets. Fairly touching and some laughs.

Meg 2: The Trench — Netflix | Once again indulging the Merrill women’s love of shark movies, we gave this nearly two hours of our time the first weekend of June. I actually liked it slightly more than the original. It really found its stride when the action moved to a place called “Fun Island,” which is unworthy of its name after hungry megalodons, a giant squid, and things that look like killer Komodo dragons show up to feast on tourists.

Atlas — Netflix | I felt bad for J-Lo canceling her summer tour because of low ticket sales, so I watched this and felt just a little bit worse. The plot is a mishmash of every scary cliche you’ve ever heard about Artificial General Intelligence rising up to overthrow its human creators. The action and tech were kinda cool, but the story lacked heart.

I, Tonya — HBO Max | We subscribed to Max for another year and watched this after spending 20 minutes looking for something. (C’mon, Warner, curate your content better!) I found it compelling and liked most of the performances. Tonya Harding’s figure skating career really was Reality TV a decade before everything became Reality TV.

The Big Door Prize, S1 & S2 — Apple TV | Irish actor Chris O’Dowd leads the cast of this comedy. Plot centers around the mysterious appearance of a Photo Booth type machine called “Morpho” in a small town’s general store. Enter your SSN, let the machine capture your fingerprints, and it spits out a card that reveals your “Life’s Potential.” Great news for the locals who get cards that say Healer and Hero, but existential crises ensue for town residents with cards that read Ghost or Gum.

Welcome to Wrexham, S3 — FX on Hulu | Success breeds success for celebrity owners Ryan Reynolds and Ryan McElhenny, and the now much-better-than-their-league talent who are incentivized to  play for this Welsh soccer club in part because of the boost they’ll get in their Q rating. This season dragged at times when the producers felt they needed to move beyond the drama of the games, but they’ve got the documentary style nailed and the episodes are always very watchable.

The Briar Club by Kate Quinn | The reigning queen of historical fiction is back with this novel set in 1950’s Washington, D.C., as a passel of women from various backgrounds rent rooms at a boarding house during the height of Sen. McCarthy’s Red Scare. Touching scenes of female solidarity and some fun plot twists make it eminently readable. | My AP review.

Deacon King Kong by James McBride | Wanted to read this when it made all the best-of lists upon release in 2020, but it took until my mom bought a trade paperback copy to add it to my nightstand. Glad I did. Vividly drawn characters and a funny, but poignant plot. I imagine David Simon, who wrote “The Wire,” loved it.

The Red River by Louise Erdrich | Probably not going to win a Pulitzer like she did for “The Sentence,” but Erdrich does tell a compelling story about a young North Dakotan girl named Kismet who marries too young to a boy who is hiding a secret. | My AP review.

How to Leave the House by Nathan Newman | Signed up to review this one for the AP on a whim and read it in a few days on vacation. Very odd and graphic story about a 23-year-old gay British young man who orders a dildo in the mail and then freaks out when the post office delivers it to someone else instead. If it’s deeper than that, it went over my head. | My AP review.