May media diet

A robust month! Some good stuff in here, enjoy!

Survivor, S48 — CBS | Another rather unexciting season, as the contestants let a dominant group control the votes, then the jury gave the $1 million to the only player in the final three who manipulated his fellow tribemates just enough to earn their respect. On the plus side, it portrayed a neurodivergent competitor and a stutterer in a positive light.

The Last of Us, S2 — Max | The series based on the groundbreaking video game returned for season 2 and it was easy to forget it’s set in a zombie apocalypse. The violence is almost entirely human on human, with revenge plots and factions warring to protect the slices of civilization they’ve created.

Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold — Disney+ | When she’s home, Greta watches shark movies with her mother and Nat Geo specials with me. This one was three episodes featuring the world’s best rock climber (the guy who scooted up El Capitan without ropes in “Free Solo”) trying to summit Greenland’s Ingmikortilaq, a nearly 4,000’ vertical wall that rises out of the Arctic Ocean. Members of his expedition also conduct some pretty cool climate change science.

Your Friends & Neighbors — Apple TV | Jon Hamm, Amanda Peet and Olivia Munn star in this tragicomedy of upper middle class life, some of which was shot in my sister’s adopted hometown of Rye, N.Y. Fairly dark stuff about the consumer maw that unchecked capitalism creates. Hamm gets fired  from his hedge fund job and takes to stealing and pawning his neighbor’s five- and six-figure watches and art, none of which they miss, until they do.

Andor, S2 — Disney+ | The reigning champ of Star Wars storytelling was even better the second go-round! This is what Star Wars nuts have dreamed about for decades — real stories, real people, real consequences, set in a galaxy far, far away. Superlative stuff. 

Rogue One - Disney+ | Naturally had to watch this again after “Andor.” It’s even better appreciated after what amounted to a 24-episode prequel. Here’s hoping Tony Gilroy has more Star Wars stories to tell. 

When Harry Met Sally — DVD | Greta had not yet seen this 1989 classic, so we popped it in at camp. Holds up remarkably well, with Meg Ryan’s hair getting more glorious every time the plot advances five years. 

Good Bye, Lenin! — Tubi |  Lincoln watched this film in German class and wanted to share it with us. Daniel Brühl stars in a story about an East German family after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The matriarch, a devoted communist, has a heart attack (great German word, Herzinfarkt) on that day and when she wakes up after an 8-month coma her son and daughter are told she may die if she gets too excited. So they bring her home to convalesce in a make-believe world where East Germany still exists.

Off Track 2 - Netflix | The algorithm strikes again! This is a Swedish film about two couples recommitting to each other during a 192-mile bike race around a lake outside Stockholm. Lovely film with locations and a May Day scene that made me nostalgic for our family vacation there in 2018. Hejdor!

Another Simple Favor — Prime | Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick, together again for the first time since 2018? What could go wrong? Plenty. This one lacked the verve of its progenitor and wasn’t helped by a hackneyed script.

Thunderbolts* — Theatrical | It’s probably damning with faint praise, but this was not the worst Marvel movie I’ve ever seen. Nice to set up a new super team and we’ll see where the creative minds take it. I worry they’re chasing the Avengers rainbow instead of telling new stories, but time will tell. They certainly have billions to spend as they try to figure it out.

The Starling — Netflix | Melissa McCarthy, Chris O’Dowd and Kevin Kline star in this touching dramedy, featuring a grieving couple and a very territorial bird.

Life & Art by Richard Russo | The pride of New York’s Mohawk Valley is out with a collection of essays. The first six, “Life,” will delight super fans as Russo draws all sorts of parallels between his characters and his real life. The second serves up some writerly advice but also diverges into some weird asides about things like life lessons contained in the film “Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid.” | My AP review.

Ocean: Earth’s Last Wilderness by David Attenborough & Colin Butfield | Sir David Attenborough is back with another television and book twofer, this time exploring the ocean. Packed with stories from Attenborough’s lifetime of marine exploration and focusing on eight salt-water habitats, each chapter of “Ocean” ends with a case study in hope, leaving readers with a sense that ‘Earth’s Last Wilderness’ is maybe not beyond repair. | My AP review.

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid | The writer of “Daisy Jones & the Six” returns with a love story set in the 80’s during NASA’s space shuttle era. Two female astronauts fall for each other while training and are forced to hide their relationship as they prepare to leave Earth’s orbit. Nobody writes falling in love like TJR. | My AP review.

So Far Gone by Jess Walter | Ripped from the headlines, this was an engrossing family dramedy about a father/grandfather who withdraws from the world Trump created after getting in a fight with his son-in-law, who has joined a religious cult and most definitely pulled the lever in the voting booth for the sadistic white nationalist. Seven years later his grandkids, 13 and 10, show up on his doorstep to say their mother is missing. | My AP review.

Romeo & Juliet -- Live Stage | Lincoln's friend Lucy was in this NHS Drama Club production, and you know what? It wasn't entirely bad! They didn't abridge it, so my chief complaint was the length (almost 3 hours with an intermission), but there was some real talent on stage.