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Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon<\/a>. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we\u2019ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.<\/i><\/p>\n Every Travis McGee Novel (Fiction, John D. MacDonald, 1964-1984) Houseboat-dwelling South Florida \u201csalvage contractor\u201d Travis McGee contracts to get something stolen from his client by fair means or foul, in exchange for half the take. Meanwhile, we enjoy the South Florida scenery, the (usually doomed) lady guest star (all MacDonald\u2019s characters really live and breathe), McGee\u2019s witty (even mordant) observations, and the con-artistry and fisticuffs along the way. Not entirely hard-boiled, not pure crime fiction, certainly not \u201cmysteries,\u201d the 21 Travis McGee novels carved out their own niche and then spawned the \u201cFlorida crime\u201d subgenre and emblematized the transition of the American knight-errant hero (McGee regularly compares himself to Don Quixote) from the cowboy to the P.I. to the thriller badass. Start with the first one,<\/a> or the two I\u2019ve already<\/a> reviewed,<\/a> or The Long Lavender Look<\/a> (featuring one of my favorite McGee structures, man vs. town). –KH<\/p>\n Small Axe: Lovers Rock (Film, UK, Steve McQueen, 2020) Young members of London\u2019s Anglo-Carribean community attend a house party in search of romance and\/or catharsis. Experiential drama told with beguiling formal control that puts other slice-of-life flicks in the corner.\u2014RDL<\/p>\n The Suicide Squad (Film, US, James Gunn, 2021) Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) assembles a team of supervillains (Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, et al.) to wipe out a black project on foreign soil that turns out to be Starro the Conqueror. I give this \u201csplatter war comedy\u201d the bump over the Recommended bubble for the same reason I did Gunn\u2019s first Guardians movie — it looks like the product of an actual directorial vision, with bright visuals, a strong script tone, and deliberate throwback 70s-style editing. (Dialogue a little less good than Guardians, ending rather better.) Going in, remember that Gunn cut his teeth at Troma. –KH<\/p>\n Godzilla vs. Kong (Film, US, Adam Wingard, 2021) An ancestral grudge sets two enormous monsters at each other\u2019s throats, when the real menace lurks in the high-tech facility of a sinister science businessman (Demi\u00e1n Bichir.) In a surprise move for this latest Godzilla series, Wingard asks the question, \u201cHey what if these tried to be fun?\u201d\u2014RDL<\/p>\n Zack Snyder\u2019s Justice League (Film, US, Zack Snyder, 2021) Following the death of Superman (Henry Cavill), Batman (Ben Affleck) assembles a team of superheroes to defend the Earth from apocalyptic invasion. Everything about this film — the editing, the shot composition and lighting, the fights, the character development, the absence of ass jokes — vastly improves on the \u201cWhedon cut\u201d released to theaters in 2017, most especially the all-new neo-Wagnerian score by Tom Holkenborg. That said, it\u2019s still four hours long and feels longer — especially with the entirely gratuitous alternate-history \u201cKnightmare\u201d dream ending (meant as a lead-in to the abandoned JL2) seemingly tacked on for no reason except to spend AT&T\u2019s money. –KH<\/p>\nRecommended<\/h2>\n
Good<\/h2>\n
Okay<\/h2>\n