media update: March

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. Sundial* by Catriona Ward:  Rob has been noticing a darkness in her daughter Callie for some time, but when Callie becomes dangerous, Rob takes her to Sundial, the desert town where Rob grew up, in hopes of fixing her.  Riveting and supremely creepy.  

2. The Night Shift by Alex Finlay:  On New Year's Eve in 1999, all but one of the closing employees at a Blockbuster Video are murdered.  Fifteen years later, the same thing happens at an ice cream store, and the lone survivor of the first massacre is called upon to help the only survivor of the second.

Side note:  I worked at Blockbuster in the late nineties, and another store about ten miles away was robbed at gunpoint.  The district manager came to our store to talk about what to do if we got robbed, and at one point she said "Most importantly, don't try to be a hero...that means you, [C]." I was like, uh, what?  I wouldn't fight for my OWN money, much less the money of the corporate overlord sucking away my youth and happiness.  I'm gonna give them all the money and a Coke for the road.

3. By Way of Sorrow by Robyn Gigl:  After a trans prostitute kills the son of a senator, defense attorney Erin McCabe takes the case even though it may bring her own life as a trans woman under scrutiny.

4. Come With Me* by Ronald Malfi:  After his wife Allison is killed during a mass shooting, Aaron finds a motel receipt in her belongings.  He starts to investigate whether she was having an affair, but he turns up something much more sinister.  Spooky and sad.

2022 TOTAL SO FAR:  13

NONFICTION

1. Tell Me Everything** by Erika Krouse:  The author has a knack for getting people to open up to her, so when she got an offer to do investigations for a lawyer, she jumped at the chance.  This engrossing and often disturbing memoir details her work on putting together a lawsuit dealing with a gang rape at a Colorado college and how the quest for justice began to consume her.

2. Girls Can Kiss Now* by Jill Gutowitz:  Essays on lesbianism and pop culture.  Very funny (with a few grimly notable exceptions) and thought-provoking.

2022 TOTAL SO FAR:  3

MANGA/GRAPHIC NOVELS

1. In These Words* vol. 2 by GuiltPleasure

2. Would You Like to Be a Family? by Koyama

3. Pinky & Pepper Forever by Ivy Atoms

4. My Lovey-Dovey Wife Is a Stone Cold Killer vols. 1-2 by Donten Kosaka

5. How Do We Relationship? vols. 4-5 by Tamifull

2022 TOTAL SO FAR:  11 graphic novels and 8 volumes of manga

MOVIES

1. Little Monsters*:  A cheerful kindergarten teacher (Lupita Nyong'o) and the slacker uncle of one of her students must protect her class from undead hordes during a field trip.  Really funny and enjoyable.

2. Fresh*:  A woman (Daisy Edgar-Jones) discovers her dream man (Sebastian Stan) isn't who he seems to be in this tasty thriller.  

3. Boss Level:  A man (Frank Grillo) gets caught in a time loop and must relive the same day, dying hundreds of times in the process,  until he gets things right.  A fun and grisly cross between Groundhog Day and Free Guy.

4. Turning Red*:  Mei finds adolescence to be a real beast...literally, as she turns into a red panda when her emotions run high.  Another funny and touching hit from Pixar.

5. Batman: Soul of the Dragon:  In the 1970s, Bruce Wayne teams up with former students of a martial arts monastery to recover a stolen sword.

6. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City:  Uhhh...the set design is really good?

Slightly spoilery, "Resident Evil fangirl since 1998" note:  Many things annoyed me about this film, but I was especially irritated by how they portrayed the relationship between Chris and Claire.  Claire frickin' WORSHIPS Chris!  She would never treat him the way she does in this movie!  Also, they didn't grow up in an effing orphanage.  Chris raised her after their parents died in a car accident.  That's why they're so close!  

(Grumbles and opens up Nivanfield fanart tab)

7. The Dry:  Aaron Falk (Eric Bana) returns to his remote Australian hometown for the funeral of his childhood friend Luke, who killed his wife and son and then himself.  As Aaron tries to piece together the reasons for what happened, he finds himself under scrutiny by people who still blame him for the death of a girl many years before.  Based on the excellent book by Jane Harper; if you can only choose one, choose the book, but the movie is a decent adaptation.

8. 47 Meters Down: Uncaged:  Honestly, I was rooting for the sharks.

9. Don't Look Up**:  Two scientists (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) desperately try to warn the world about an impending meteor strike in this slyly funny and trenchant movie.

2022 TOTAL SO FAR:  16