Quick Reviews and Stuff: June
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Books
Book Lovers, Emily Henry — Publishing agent Nora gets roped into spending her vacation time in a made-for-Lifetime-TV-movie small town and shenanigans ensue. I had such high hopes for this given how highly rated it is and how many people I know have loved Henry’s books. However, I feel like I read a completely different book than everyone else. This was so aggressively mediocre. This is billed as an enemies to lovers story, but Charlie and Nora aren’t enemies, they’re just professionals in similar lines of work who got off on the wrong foot. Nora’s sister Libby is insufferable and most of the problems in this book could have been solved if a) anyone actually talked to each other b) Nora got therapy at any point to deal with her somewhat unreasonable unresolved trauma or c) both. I think Charlie was the only character I didn’t hate, and that’s mostly because he was pretty much a blank slate of a man whose main personality trait was having eyebrows.
Heat 2, Michael Mann & Meg Gardiner — On the one hand, Heat (the movie) is an action/crime classic for a reason, with its audacious capers, realistic fight scenes, and all-star cast. On the other, it’s a universe wherein women only exist to prop up the men in the cast, to sleep with them or make their lives difficult or to suffer for them. Heat 2 is exactly the same — the world gets much fuller in this prequel/sequel (yes, it accomplishes both, and yes, it probably should have been two books instead) as you see what shaped each of the characters we met in the movie, but what shapes them is often women dying, being assaulted, being traumatized. When Michael Mann inevitably figures out how to make this into a movie, the action sequences are going to be out of this world but the rest — sigh.
Grief is for People, Sloane Crosley — I think this is the kind of book that you only get to write if you’re already an established author, as working through one’s grief in such a public way isn’t usually something that totally newbies get the green light for. Crosley writes about her grief after her best friend’s suicide, which is tangled up in the violation of having her home robbed shortly before, and the collective trauma of the pandemic less than a year later. She doesn’t shy away from the fact that Russell, the dead friend, was a complicated, messy person as she tries to untangle his sudden death. The book is deeply personal, conflicted, brutal, ugly, honest. This is not a book for someone looking to understand their own grief, so to the extent people are shelving this with “self help” rather than “memoir”, they are wrong. But for those who want to read a slow-motion car crash, or who like unpacking the human mind, this is for you. (Crosley almost lost me with her defense/willful blindness/oblivious way of describing her friendship with Russell, who was her boss for many years and who seems very much like a workplace nightmare, no matter how well they got along. Yes, Sloane, even if you’re okay with him calling you catty names doesn’t mean that other people around you have to tolerate it. Her depiction of the woman who filed a complaint about him at their workplace is full of disdain for someone who thought perhaps that she shouldn’t have to work in a workplace where a grown man calls someone else a “toothless hooker”. You can be a fun, goofy person who is friends with his subordinates — even though I think you should definitely not be intimate hosting-drunken-sleepover-parties-at-your-house level friends with your subordinates — without bawdy banter being the norm.)
Clark and Division, Naomi Hirahara —Set during WWII, this follows the Ito family, who were first held in the Manzanar internment camp before being released to relocate to Chicago. Daughter Aki spends the book trying to solve the mystery of her older sister’s death. The writing style was very simple and choppy, but what I don’t know is whether that style is supposed to emulate the speaking/internal voice of our protagonist, or if the author just writes in a simple/choppy style. I don’t expect to be checking out her other books to find out. This book never quite picks a lane between historical fiction, mystery, or romance, and I think suffers for it. The mystery aspect comes together all too neatly — people Aki needs to talk to are always right where she needs them to be, she (eventually) gets the answers she’s seeking, people easily decide to help her out — and the resolution is unsatisfying and, honestly, unrealistic. I liked the look at 1940s Chicago, but at the same time wish we’d spent more time with the Ito family before they were forcefully relocated to the Midwest. I also wish we’d gotten to know Rose better — she’s obviously a huge looming factor for Aki and all the other characters as Aki tries to get to the bottom of what happened to her sister, but we spend very little time with Rose before she exits the picture. Clearly lots of people loved this one, but it just wasn’t for me.
A Book for Escargot, Dashka Slater & Sydney Hanson (Illustrator) — The second in what is currently a four-picture book series featuring Escargot the snail, the cutest little guy in a beret that I have ever seen. I am so charmed by these books, enough so that I immediately reserved the other three at the library. I want to be Escargot’s best friend. Escargot is single-handedly making people think snails are cute, this is incredible work. I love the way the book addresses the reader and provides a lot of opportunity for the young readers to be creative, write their own stories, come up with their own adventures, etc. It makes the child a part of the story which I can only imagine is really fun for kids.
Topgun: An American Story, Dan Pedersen — Memoir by the retired Navy Captain who was tapped to start the Topgun program in 1969. I think this would have been a four star read for me had it not dragged as much towards the end and veered into stuff that Pedersen wasn’t present for or had no decision making power in, but wanted to talk about anyway. (See for example: the entire chapter on the Yom Kippur War, which the US was involved in but Pedersen himself did not fly in.) This is less about Topgun specifically than it is about Pedersen’s life and experiences. I enjoyed the memoir aspects of this that talked about what it was like to serve in the Navy during this time of American history, and about Pedersen’s role in creating the Topgun program. I don’t think Pedersen and I would have much common ground in terms of our political/societal beliefs, but he’s clearly full of tons of good stories, even if it’s pretty clear he’s whitewashed or minimized a lot of stuff (there are some things he talks about towards the end of his career where he’s like, “this bad thing happened but what was I supposed to do about it!” which, like, okay dude). An easy read even if you’re not an aviator, and full of interesting characters, but probably could have used a stronger hand in the editing process.
Escargot, Dashka Slater & Sydney Hanson (Illustrator) — The first in the Escargot series, featuring our plucky snail as he looks to reach his favorite salad. The fact that there is not an Escargot TV show or an overwhelming amout of Escargot merch is a huge oversight of capitalism. Look, I don’t have kids, I will never have kids, but I love these books so much. The art is so whimsical, and Escargot’s voice is so absolutely perfect. Silly and charming and funny, and the conversational tone between Escargot and the reader is so excellent. The perfect book for story time and also to encourage your picky eater to try something new. If Escargot can like carrots, then so can you!
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Movies
Anyone But You (2023) — Insultingly bad. If the movie industry is trying to convince me that Sydney Sweeney can act, this movie did not do it. The script gives me hope that I could be a screenwriter someday if I really wanted to. Glen Powell is hot and the scenery in Australia is beautiful; that’s about all this stilted movie has going for it. Also, someone please get Sydney a bikini top that fits???
The Inventor (2023) — Leonardo da Vinci tries to determine the meaning of life, or something like that. Somehow the longest 90 minute movie I’ve seen. I think I paused it and took a nap in the middle. I loved the animation, which alternated betwee both stop motion and 2D, and loved the message (use your gifts for kindness and curiosity). But the execution was sort of messy — it couldn’t ever decide if it wanted to be a silly kids movie or something more serious — and the original songs that were shoehorned in were absolutely forgettable. Also it could have used more Matt Berry.
He Went That Way (2023) — Zachary Quinto stars as a down-on-his-luck animal trainer (no, really) who encounters a sketchy hitchhiker (Jacob Elordi). The story is somewhat based on a true story, though the names have all been changed. This was okay in terms of “movie I watched to pass the time on a 12 hour flight” but nothing more than that. Tries and fails to be suspenseful, never quite lets you connect with the characters, and has a whole sideplot about a monkey.
Top Gun: Maverick (2022) — I will not answer questions about how many times I have seen this movie, thank you. (They’re not all listed in Letterboxd so you can’t snoop on me.)
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) — Something about this didn’t totally work for me but also Fury Road is a tough act to follow. I understand why this wasn’t two movies but it probably would have had better pacing/character development if we had one movie about young Furiosa and another about Anya Taylor-Joy Furiosa. Still very enjoyable with some epic vehicle fights but I wanted a little bit more from it. The end credits featuring scenes directly from Fury Road felt unnecessary and mostly just made me think about how much more enjoyable that movie was.
Robot Dreams (2023) — In a 1980s New York populated by anthropomorphic animals, Dog gets himself a robot companion, then learns about friendship and loss. Absolutely unbelievable how charming I found this. Funny, moving, poignant, and a better example of “city as character” than pretty much anything I’ve seen in ages. Simple but highly effective. On my short list for the best of 2024 so far. This is based off of a graphic novel of the same name, which I am very excited to read. (I do agree with all of the Letterboxd reviews that basically said: you showed me the twin towers so many times that you really convinced me for a minute that we were going to have Animal Universe 9/11.)
The Garfield Movie (2024) — Aggressively mediocre and a waste of a perfectly good Garfield. Why we keep trying to make Chris Pratt into a voice actor, I’ll never know. Garfield reunites with his estranged father for a heist (yes, really) set at a dairy farm (yes, really). The story overwhelmingly felt like someone pitched a movie about the two cows from the farm and some executive somewhere was like “that sucks but what if we jammed it into an existing IP”. I did appreciate that Garfield wasn’t as much of a tool towards Odie as he traditionally was, and there was one funny gag related to Top Gun that did have me laugh out loud. And the animation style for the fur was really good. That’s about it.
Ghostlight (2024) — It took until mid-June but I finally got got by a movie that made me cry. Chicago (and suburbs)-filmed drama about a family struggling under the weight of an unexpected death. The information about their tragedy is doled out to you slowly, and your attitude about each character and the way they’re either acting out or internalizing all of their problems grows and changes as you learn the depth of their pain. Excellent look at a grieving family who has never fully processed their tragedy, and the way that not being able to name or access or even just feel your emotions can nearly destroy you. The father/mother/daughter leads are a real life family, which makes for an even more raw portrayal.
Thelma (2024) — Grandma gets ripped off by a phone scammer and decides to take matters into her own hands. Makes me wish I had a grandma who I could have enjoyed going to see this with. Some of the funniest gags are in the traler, and the subplot about the struggling grandson (who needs, like, therapy and ADHD meds, instead of being berated by his parents for being an incompetent slacker) was a bit underbaked or borderline unnecessary. But this was so refreshing of a film to tackle aging and mortality in a way that will resonate with audience of all ages that I couldn’t even care that much about its flaws.
Lust, Caution (2007) — Understandably a divisive film, between its rough, raw sex scenes, its ambiguous ending, and the love story that is not consensual or honest. Astounding acting from the leads, particularly Tony Leung Chiu-wai, who is absolutely chilling in his role, playing against his usual type. Director Ang Lee spoke at the Music Box after this played, and he seemed a bit dazzled to see a largely white American audience embrace this movie. It’s clear that this was a very personal, at times painful, movie for Lee to make, and one that he admitted to not re-watching essentially since its release.
Hit Man (2023) — Unlike the previous Glen Powell entry onto this list, Hit Man actually is a fairly good time, exactly the sort of movie you’d expect to land on a streaming service and occupy an otherwise boring afternoon with. Powell and Adria Arjona are both beautiful and have great chemistry, and Powell gets to show off his comedic chops as well as his abilities at being a romantic lead. I thought the time-skip ending was a bit of a let down, with the movie ending with a fizzle of picket fences and perfect looking families after some really high stakes shenanigans.
Loving Vincent (2017) — A young man tries to deliver a letter from van Gogh that never reached its destination while the artist was alive. Visually stunning, as every frame of this film is an actual hand-painted oil painting. It uses van Gogh’s most famous works well, either as actual characters/settings or as inspirations for the same. The plot gets a bit dull/repetitive as our main character tries to solve the lingering uncertainty around van Gogh’s death, but the clear labor of love this film was makes it worth a watch.
Inside Out 2 (2024) — Pixar will obviously never do it but there’s a huge opportunity here for Inside Out 3 to be about Riley realizing that her hero worship of all of the high school hockey girls is also at least a little bit gay. This movie was fine if you’re a child/tween and are still living in that cauldron of emotions that Riley is; as an adult I had a few nitpicks with the messaging and execution, not to mention the hockey content (that was a hella soft penalty called on Riley at the beginning). Anxiety though was perfect and I felt like the visualization of the panic attack — the brain going into overdrive because of All Of The Things — was really well done.
Born on the Fourth of July (1989) — Based on the memoir by Vietnam veteran and anti-war activist Ron Kovic. A bit melodramatic at times, as some of the scenes could have been elevated perhaps by a bit less slow-mo and hysterics, but, hey: Oliver Stone, I guess. A captivating and brutal look at the way young American soldiers were chewed up by Vietnam and subsequently practically discarded by the country they were prepared to die for. The conditions vets face today might not be as deplorable as the rehab hospital that Kovic stayed at, but it’s mighty depressing to think about the generations of young folks since Kovic that we’ve sent overseas to fight and then continued to discard and ignore once they’ve returned. A great vehicle for Tom Cruise to really stretch as an actor; I understand why he’s settled into a career of Ethan Hunts but I miss watching him show that he can be more than just a stoic action hero.
Other Stuff
I took a brief escapade over to Iowa this month to return to Codfish Hollow, a venue that I first experienced last year on a Mountain Goats adventure. Being hot and sweaty and crammed into an old barn with a ton of other people isn’t something that sounds like my jam, but honestly the vibes here are so good and positive and fun that I’m hoping to return annually for some excellent barn times. This year’s trip was to see Murder By Death, who fit right in with the rustic, worn setting (affectionate). Absolutely worth a trip if you can make it out. The sense of community and laid-back vibe makes this one of my favorite places to see a show.
What’s Next?
I already crammed a weekend trip to Michigan in, for some quiet-in-the-woods time over the Fourth. Coming up: Andrew Bird in Minneapolis, the New Pornographers basically in my back yard, and a trip to New York and surrounding environs for some Mountain Goats shows, where I’ll also get to check off two mostly-new-to-me states (Connecticut and New Hampshire).
For movies, I already saw MaXXXine (quick review: underwhelmed), and have plans to see Twisters (gotta continue with Glen Powell Summer), and need some more free evenings to open up to catch the rest of the interesting stuff that’s been coming out this summer.
My foster cats Jackson and Petra got adopted and go to their forever home this coming week. I will miss their cute little faces.
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