Category: Micro-Reviews

Nominated for a whopping 13 Oscars, this Spanish-language musical about a transitioning Mexican narco-boss has as many haters as it has supporters. Is it a good movie? Sort of. It’s watchable and engaging, but it fails on an essential level. The film’s compelling premise—a struggle …

Eight Oscar nominations suggest this film is a juggernaut. It kind of is—but only if you’re a fan of Bob Dylan’s music and of the village folk scene in the 1960s. The story follows a young Bobby Zimmerman’s rise from Midwestern Woodie Guthrie fanboy to …

Early in this novel, the narrator promises us the book will be a love story. In truth, it’s more of an attempted love story—a tale about a newly famous Black author who searches for meaning and understanding in an America that’s still wrestling with the …

The story of how America gained air superiority in World War II is of limited appeal to most readers. Gladwell, however, infuses the subject with energy, tension and personality. What could be a dry rehashing of tech developments and military strategy is in fact a …

While Calgary’s Bow River rises with a coming flood, local homeless man Shermeto takes a bad beating and ends up in the hospital. This brings his estranged daughter, Kendra, back into his world. What follows is part murder mystery and part literary meditation on life …

Here’s a novel about a group of people trying to navigate a Massachusetts suddenly populated with rabies-infected hordes. The premise isn’t new, but the difference here—what makes this story better than most zombie novels—is that the focus is on the characters, without shambling automatons and …

What a fun, pleasant memoir. No one does easy reading better than Bryson. This look at his early years in Des Moines, Iowa, focuses on the mundane yet weird naivete and optimism underpinning life in 1950s middle America. Not much happens in Bryson’s childhood, but …

Here’s the movie Donald Trump’s lawyers and campaign team tried to keep out of cinemas. Despite the news stories of gun-shy distributors and threats against the director, this movie isn’t salacious, doesn’t feel like a misrepresentation, and isn’t out to bury the former and (most …

Near the end of this autobiography, the author’s fictional alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman, says to Roth, “You make a fictional world that is far more exciting than the world it comes out of.” That’s not inaccurate. Roth was a better writer of fiction than of …

Here’s a trio of novellas from the king of the legal thriller. The stories in this collection should appeal to Grisham’s fans. There’s a convicted lawyer-slash-thief trying to reconcile with his daughter, a death-row convict nearing execution, and small-town lawyers doing their damnedest to break …