61/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️
This issue’s standouts were “The 6% Squeeze” by Eddie Robson, “A Stranger Knocks” by Tananarive Due, “¡Sangronas! Un Lista de Terror” by M. M. Olivas, and “A Menu of First Favorite Meals” by Jo Miles.
Michael Hanscom
Murder Mystery 2
Murder Mystery 2 (2023): ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Ridiculous and amusing. Adam Sandler always makes my skin crawl, but Jennifer Aniston makes up for it. Ridiculous, over-the-top characters and situations, but kept me laughing, though sometimes it was with and sometimes it was at. Still, it joins a small, very select group of films that star Adam Sandler where I don’t feel like I need to take a shower after watching.
The Fall Guy
The Fall Guy (2024): ⭐️⭐️
How is this getting at all decent reviews? The worst part is that you can see a fun movie in there, and there is one sequence in particular that stands out because it works, it’s clever, and it’s hilarious. But the rest of the time it drags, is confusing, and just doesn’t work as well as you think it should. At the very least, it needed to be tightened up a lot in the editing room. Mostly an uninteresting, occasionally slightly amusing mess, with one great split-screen scene.
What Fresh Hell is This? Perimenopause, Menopause, Other Indignities, and You by Heather Corinna
59/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
While I wasn’t born with a uterus, roughly half of the people I know and encounter throughout my life were (including my wife, who handed this book to me after she read it), and as most of the ones I’m most familiar with are within a few years of my age (51 as of this moment), this seemed like good info to have. The book is great; very readable and often quite funny, with a wealth of information. I certainly had no idea how much research into menopause has only been done in the past couple decades; I’d guess that even people who think they know what’s up are likely to find something new. This is an excellent, informative, and likely quite validating resource for anyone with a uterus who is approaching or experiencing menopause, who is planning on yeeting their uterus and facing sudden menopause, who never had a uterus but values understanding (as much as possible) what those who do are going through. There’s also a postscript chapter addressing what trans women may expect as they age.
Tremors: Shrieker Island
Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020): ⭐️
These movies just keep getting dumber. The original is great, and the next few are at least watchable, but the series has long since reached the point where it just need to be left alone to fade away.
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
58/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shakespeare, more or less, by way of Pratchett’s Discworld, and quite a lot of fun. Particularly enjoyed the recognition of the power of the word, and how it can bend history out of joint if used unscrupulously.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024): ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
While it may not quite reach the mind-blowing heights of Fury Road, that’s mostly just because Fury Road would be so difficult to follow up, no matter the circumstances. The action is as over-the-top, Anya Taylor-Joy is intensely feral, and Chris Hemsworth is an absolute loon. Lots of fun, and at some point I need to find the time to do a back-to-back marathon of both films.
The Higher Frontier by Christopher L. Bennett
57/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Set between TMP and TWoK, this adventure primarily ties together three threads: The Medusans as introduced in TOS, the Aenar as introduced in ENT, and the New Humans as introduced in Roddenberry’s novelization of TMP. Those three threads are woven together with elements, references, and in-jokes from throughout the Star Trek screen and literary universes, as Bennett so often does in his books. It’s also interesting when reading these more recently written books that are able to find ways to drop in references to the newer shows. All in all, another good adventure with some really neat approaches to tying together previously unrelated parts of Trek history in unexpected ways.
Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor
56/2024 – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fascinating collection of novellas following Binti, a young Himba woman, as she leaves her traditional home to journey to a galactic university to study math, only to find herself the sole survivor of an attack and bonded in a mysterious way to one of her attackers. The settings and events combined the traditional lifestyle of the Himba people with far-future technology, living ships, and all manner of alien races, and with some serious questions of prejudice and how people see unfamiliar others as more primitive. I really enjoyed this, and am looking forward to exploring more of Okorafor’s books.
