media update: April

Asterisks denote something I particularly enjoyed or found especially worthy of my time; double asterisks are reserved for the creme de la creme.  As always, your mileage may vary.

FICTION

1. Tomorrow There Will Be Sun by Dana Reinhardt:  Jenna has organized a stay at a luxury Mexican villa for her husband Peter's 50th birthday, but their perfect vacation starts to slowly go to shit.

2. My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing:   The unnamed narrator and his wife Millicent (oof, I really wish the author had used a different name, or at least called her Millie; no offense to anyone named Millicent, but it connotes a certain type of woman, which this character was most definitely not) spice up their marriage with murder.  It's not bad, but I really wanted to like this more than I did.

3. The Hiding Place by C.J. Tudor:  Joe returns to the small English village where he grew up in hopes of getting the truth behind some weird shit that happened there when he was younger.  Big warning: if you plan on reading this, don't read the blurbs first; one of them includes a massive spoiler that greatly lessened my enjoyment of the book because then I knew where it was going.  Lesson learned.

Side note: I didn't notice this until G pointed it out, but I sure do read a lot of books about someone returning to their hometown to investigate something!

4. A Book of Bones by John Connolly:  This is a really hard one to summarize, but in a nutshell, Charlie Parker investigates a series of murders that involve enemies from his past.

Side note: if you're in North America and want to read this, it won't be released here until October.  (I was able to get my hands on the UK version.)

5. Before She Was Found by Heather Gudenkauf:  In a small Iowa town, a sleepover turns tragic when three young friends' midnight visit to the rail yard ends with one of them stabbed and brutally beaten.  The town is thrown into a tailspin, especially when the girls blame the crime on an urban legend named Joseph Wither.

6. Lights All Night Long* by Lydia Fitzpatrick:  A Russian exchange student copes with the unfamiliarity of America and tries to find out the truth behind his brother's incarceration back home.  An unusual, beautifully written take on the classic "fish out of water" trope.


2019 total so far: 24


NONFICTION

1. The Last Stone* by Mark Bowden:  In 1975, two young sisters disappeared from a suburban shopping mall.  After police were unable to find them or any credible leads, the case was closed.  Almost 30 years later, a cold case detective found something in the files that everyone else had overlooked, and a new investigation was opened. 

2. The Light Years* by Chris Rush:  After getting his first taste of LSD at the age of 12, the author started selling drugs at school and, after getting expelled, took a road trip to Tucson to get more drugs from his sister's friend.  An excellent coming-of-age memoir that, like the best nonfiction, reads more like a novel.


2019 total so far: 4


MANGA/GRAPHIC NOVELS

1. Citrus vol. 9 by Saburouta

2. Food Wars!* vol. 29 by Yuto Tsukuda and Shun Saeki

3. No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular! vol. 13 by Nico Tanigawa

4. My Solo Exchange Diary* vol. 2 by Nagata Kabi

5. The Promised Neverland* vol. 9 by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu


2019 total so far:  19 volumes of manga and 10 graphic novels


MOVIES

1. MFKZ*:  Angelino lives an unremarkable existence until he starts seeing weird shadows and finds out that he's part alien...and they're coming to take over Earth.  A visually dazzling treat that I really enjoyed; if you like adult animation such as Liquid Television and Love Death + Robots, I bet you'll get a kick out of it too.

2. Ralph Breaks the Internet:  After a wi-fi router is installed in their arcade, Ralph and Vanellope discover a whole new world online.  Too similar to the original, and I thought it had kind of a weird message for [adopts "old man yelling at cloud" voice] impressionable young'uns.

3. The Possession of Hannah Grace:  Megan (Shay Mitchell) is an ex-cop who gets a new job at a hospital morgue and discovers that one of the corpses is, shall we say, unusual.  Goofy but mildly entertaining, and I was impressed that it didn't end as predictably as I thought it would.

4. Halloween:  In this sequel to the 70s horror classic (yes, they have the same title; yes, that's confusing), Michael Myers escapes while being transported to a new mental health facility and immediately starts racking up a body count.  But unbeknownst to him, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) has spent the last forty years preparing for just this possibility.

5. Glass:  This movie ties together Unbreakable and Split, but overall it was weird and unsatisfying.  Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson phone in their parts, leaving James McAvoy to do all the heavy lifting.  Watch it if you've already seen the other two movies for closure's sake; otherwise, give it a pass.

6. The Happy Prince:  A look at the final days of Oscar Wilde (Rupert Everett, who's terrific) as he spends them in exile after being released from prison. 

7. Mirai:  4-year-old Kun gets a new baby sister, Mirai, and discovers a portal in the backyard that lets him meet people from the past and future...including a teenaged Mirai.  Beautiful to look at, but the story was meh and I never felt moved by it.

8. Avengers: Endgame**:  Because this just came out, I don't want to spoil it for anyone, so I'll just say it was excellent.

9. Vice*:  A biographical drama about Dick Cheney's rise to political power.  I'm not usually very interested by politics, but it was done in a very entertaining style, and the performances were excellent, especially Christian Bale as Cheney.  I think he should have won Best Actor this year.

2019 total so far: 31