Books:
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
This is by the same author who wrote a book I mentioned before and liked called The Guest List. And you know what else it is? THE EXACT SAME BOOK!! As in, at a core level, the same, different set dressing (remote Scotland instead of remote Ireland, friends going on vacation rather than to a wedding, etc.) but other than that more or less the exact same characters, exact same structure, and same general themes. It was so similar that one - meaning moi - must assume that the author was aware she was basically writing the same book again and QED the only conclusion I can draw is that this is the only kind of book she wants to write and that her authorial life plan is that she’s only ever going to write books in which contemporary characters in their late 20s/early 30s go to remote places in the UK where a murder story is told by multiple narrators, most in the group but one a worker at the location’s habitation and in which the story jumps back and forth between the present day and a day or two before the murder. I mean, I guess that’s Lucy Foley’s thing. And to be clear: it’s not that this book is bad - if I hadn’t read the other one, I’d probably be talking about how much I enjoyed this one. But having read the other one… I find it really weird that she only wants to tell this one story in this one format over and over. Weird enough that I’m going to read her next book just to see if she does it again.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Based sheerly on topic (sad loner), popularity, and non-Janice reviews I thought I would hate this book. Well as it turns out, despite some intensive mental squirming around how I, a Janice, could be not just sucked in but actually moved by something so… so… <shudder> bestseller, I just have the throw in the towel and admit I loved it. Funny, absorbing, thought the whole thing was great. See? Despite the vicious accusations of “you hate everything” tossed at me years ago in the face of my utter and complete loathing of the ABC-afterschool-very-very-special Broadway schmaltzical Dear Evan Hansen (though in fairness, the Janice who brought me kind of hated it too (unclear who I’m being fair to in that parenthetic just FYI)), Janice has a heart after all!
TV/Streaming:
Gentleman Jack (Season 1):
This is a show based around a real-life 1830s lesbian coal mining landowner, and I watched it more or less despite that description because I love the showrunner’s other work (Sally Wainwright of the highly excellent Happy Valley and the even more shockingly excellent (shocking to me because the subject matter made me think I’d hate it and I turned out to love every stinking second of it) Last Tango in Halifax) but frankly for the first few episodes I wasn’t so sure. She picked a weird and completely unnecessary device (talking directly to camera) for reasons that remain a mystery and which pulled me out of the story every time it happened. But then… the plot really picked up as the lead battled with the local nasty British bad guys who were trying to do in her business, and watching her fight that era’s sexism and work the power dynamic became totally compelling. The lead actor is great, and, if you can slog through the first few episodes, it gets pretty gripping as it progresses - I mean within the bounds of being a period piece and maintaining that more moderate pacing throughout - and I’ll definitely be watching season 2 when it arrives.
Black Summer (Season 1):
I feel like this is as good as time as any to ask: why are people so into zombies? Wait I know - it’s because zombies are wily adversaries, right? Uh, no, actually per their zombiedom they’re completely brainless. Oh well then maybe they’re sexy like sexy vampires or hot werewolves who just want to love you but live in fear they’ll accidentally kill you during their monthlies. Nope, zombies are usually dirty with half their faces missing (unless that’s your thing in which case yeah totally sexy). Okay then maybe zombies are like those emotionally fraught ghosts who are desperate to connect with you, either for murder or ceramics, but still some overall motivated link. Not really, unless shuffling aimlessly in front of a burned-out hardware store counts as intent. They can definitely move fast though. Or slow. Depending. I get it now - zombies are awesome because their speed varies! Anyhoo, so this zombie show is basically like every other zombie show in which people run from location to location in the hopes of getting to some safe non-zombie spot which ends up being not all that safe and along the way one or more of the leads gets turned into a zombie and there’s some military something or other and some survivalism and I guess if you’re into all that then (a) please do some deep soul-searching as to why all of that is better with zombies, and (b) if you haven’t seen this one, it's not terrible or anything but it makes zero sense and doesn't go anywhere like all the rest of them.
Get Shorty (Seasons 1-3):
I must confess that the awesomeness of this show took me completely off guard given how much this Janice hated the movie on which it’s based (which is based on a less hateful book). The plot is basically the same (mobsters producing a movie as a front for money laundering) but Chris O’Dowd - the whole cast really, especially the Mexican mob head lady - is great as a hit man morphing into a producer, the writing and characters are really strong, and while, sure, as with all Hollywood-doing-Hollywood content there’s hyperbole and some unreality around the process but gotta say this show captures the underlying truth of how Hollywood really operates and makes the most of its gangsters=Hollywood execs metaphor as a backdrop for a thoroughly entertaining plot that manages to maintain itself across 3 seasons - though I’m thinking they ran out of money in season 3 because it was only 7 episodes and felt a bit abrupt - but even so, Janice has nothing but love for this show.
Movies:
The Upside - this is the Bryan Cranston movie based on a true story about a relationship between a quadriplegic and an ex-con which is a remake of a French movie and, okay, fine, I’m sure, as the many many Redditors endlessly insist, the French original was amazing and this remake is just typical bad American trash stripped of all artistry and pandering to the lowest common denominator - aka me because j’accuse away cinephiles but I totally enjoyed it. Sure, the story beats were predictable; yeah, it played for melodrama; but none of that really mattered to this Janice because I found it to be charming and amusing from beginning to end. I’ll take two hours of entertainment over two hours of classy edification any day of the week thanks!
Yesterday - this is a movie written by the Four Weddings and a Funeral guy about a struggling musician who, after some electrical event, discovers he's the only person who remembers the Beatles and goes on to steal all their hits. Do you like listening to sub-mediocre, or really any, Beatles covers for two hours? How about putting your head in a bucket of fire? Oh if only there’d been zombies…