Black Bag — Prime | This Steven Soderbergh film starring Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett was harmless enough. Cool vibe and nice soundtrack.
The Amateur — Hulu | Rami Malek taps back into his Mr. Robot character a bit, taking down some hired assassins who killed his wife with nothing but his hacking skillz.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere - Hulu | Missed this one in the theater but it played really well on my TV. At the very least, it made me listen to The Boss’ 1982 album Nebraska from start to finish for the first time in decades. I didn’t know any of the backstory about the making of it and found it fascinating.
Bugonia — Prime | This year’s The Substance, I guess? I enjoyed the back-and-forth scenes with Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, but was ultimately disappointed the writers decided they didn’t want to tell a story grounded in reality.
Same Time Next Year — Prime | We watched this 2024 movie starring one of the hotties from Emily in Paris so nobody else ever has to. Dreadful plot, dialogue, and acting.
Challengers — Prime | Finally got around to watching this Zendaya tennis movie that Greta recommended. As the plaque at the top of the stairs in my childhood home in Rodman read, “Tennis is the only game where you make love and don’t score.”
Still Life with Bread Crumbs by Anna Quindlen | The only good thing about not writing book reviews anymore for the AP is I’ve rediscovered our local library. I reviewed quite a few Quindlen novels over the years (Alternate Side, Nanaville) and this one has all the trademarks: well-developed characters who you care about and a plausible story told with real truth and emotion. Doesn’t hurt she’s an elitist New Yorker I can relate to.
Artemis by Andy Weir | Tried to sign out Project Hail Mary (coming to a theater near you on March 20, starring Ryan Gosling), but our local library didn’t have a copy, so I settled for this Andy Weir book that came out between his uber-successful The Martian and Project Hail Mary. A fun read, but a little too dense about the science of lunar life.
King Sorrow by Joe Hill | Stephen King’s son does his best work in this doorstop of a book, which tells the story of how a group of Maine college friends summon a dragon to exact revenge on one of their enemies, only to lock themselves into an annual choice: Give the dragon another victim or sacrifice themselves. At 877 pages, there’s much more to it than that, and it spans entire lifetimes, like Dad’s It.
Loot, S3 — Apple TV | Maya Rudolph returns in this comedy that skewers billionaires. It’s getting a little one-note after 30 episodes, but can still be counted on for a few LOL moments per ep.
Ripple — Netflix | My mom recommended this 8-ep series, maybe to counteract my cynicism? It was cute, but predictable, and stars nobody you know.
I am not a movie crier, but it was emotionally well-played, I'd say.
ReplyDeleteI even cried the second time I watched it already knowing what happened. At the end, but also during her initial grief at losing her son.
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