PopaHALLics #129 "Girls, Girls, Girls"
Girls and women dominate our pop culture choices this week, from a British teen trying to solve a murder to a black woman struggling with racial tensions in 1960s America. Sometimes they're good "girls" and sometimes, like "Abigail," they're very, very bad.

Streaming:

• "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder," Netflix. For her school project, a 17-year-old British girl investigates the murder of a high school student five years before. The limited series is based on Holly Jackson's YA mystery bestseller.
• "Abigail," Peacock. The makers of "Ready or Not" return with another black comedy horror movie. A group of kidnappers kidnap the right young girl, but boy oh boy does it go wrong.
• "The Decameron," Netflix. A comedy about the Black Death? In this limited series, a group of Italians flee the plague to a remote estate, bringing their foibles, lusts and problems with them. Tony Hale stars.
• "Lady in the Lake," Apple +. This mystery thriller follows the lives of two women on a collision course in 1960s Baltimore. Natalie Portman is a Jewish housewife seeking to reinvent herself as an investigative journalist, and Cleo Johnson (Moses Ingram) is a black woman struggling to provide for her family.

Books:

• "Night Watching," by Tracy Sierra. In this suspense thriller, Sierra's debut, a woman and her two young children are menaced by a home invader during a snowstorm ... or are they?

Music:
The Mavericks are classified as "Americana"—a catdh-all term for this Miami band that blends country, rock, Tex-Mex twang, Cuban rhythms, even Jamaican ska. Steve saw a recent concert and thoroughly enjoyed it. Check out their music, as well as by similar artists, on our latest playlist!

Click through the links to watch, read, and listen to what we're talking about.

PopaHALLics #128 "Four on the Floor"
Our podcast is four years old! We celebrate with a funny, more-or-less-true movie about profanity-laced letters, an animated noir Batman, an Alice Hoffman novel about the power of reading, and an influential "sensation" novel first published in 1859-60. Once again, we're on the cutting edge! [Joke.]

Streaming:

• "Wicked Little Letters," streaming services and rental. When residents of a small seaside town begin receiving profanity-laced letters in this black comedy mystery, suspicion falls on a foul-mouthed Irishwoman (Jessie Buckley). But did she do it? Also starring Olivia Coleman and Ajana Vasan.
• "Shardlake," Hulu. In this 4-part series based on C.J. Sansom's novels, a lawyer and his sidekick (Arthur Hughes and Anthony Boyle) investigate, on the orders of Thomas Cromwell (Sean Bean), a horrific murder at a monastery.
• "Batman: Caped Crusader," Prime. In this animated throwback noir series, Batman (voiced by Hamish Linklater) is a true detective using low-key methods and his fists to fight crime in Gotham City. More diversity and some interesting spins on Batman's longtime villains.
• "My Spy," Prime. A hardened CIA agent (Dave Bautista) meets his most challenging adversary yet, a 9-year-old girl (Chloe Coleman), whom he's supposed to be discreetly surveilling. She has other ideas in this cute 2020 action comedy also starring Kristen Schaal and Daniel Kim.
• "Leave No Trace," Disney+ and rental. In this slow-moving but involving drama from the Oscar-nominated writer and director of "Winter's Bone," a dad (Ben Foster) and his daughter (Thomasin McKenzie) live off the grid in Oregon until one small mistake tips them off to the authorities.

Books:

• "The Invisible Hour," by Alice Hoffman. This novel from the "queen of magical realism" celebrates the power of reading. A copy of "The Scarlet Letter" causes a young girl to question she and her mother's involvement in an oppressive cult.
• "The Woman in White," by Wilkie Collins. This story originally published in installments in 1859-1860 is often cited in 100-best-novels-of-all-time lists and was one of the first to use multiple narrators to advance the plot. Vivid characters, a mysterious woman in white, true love, scheming upper-crust types, involuntary confinement in an insane asylum—it's all here!

PopaHALLics #127 "Let's Do the Twist-er"
Despite her tornado fears, Kate gets sucked into the new disaster movie "Twisters." Steve goes samurai with "Shogun." Also: Murders! Mysteries! Monkeys! (Haven't you always wanted a mon-KEY?)

In Theaters:

• "Twisters." In this "stand-alone sequel" to the 1996 hit, a woman (Daisy Edgar-Jones) testing a new tornado tracking system in Oklahoma crosses paths with a reckless, charismatic storm chaser (Glen Powell). Things are about to get stormy!

Streaming:

• "Twister," Max, Prime, and other streaming services. In this 1996 Jan de Bront thriller, Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton play two storm chasers on the brink of divorce who put themselves in harm's way to test an advanced weather alert system. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck, Jami Gertz, and Cary Elwes.
• "Shogun," FX, Hulu. Based on the James Clavell novel, this much-Emmy-nominated historical drama focuses on the collision/collusion of two ambitious men, an English sailor marooned in Japan (Cosmo Jarvis) and a Japanese lord (Hiroyuki Sanada) fighting for his survival.
• "Grantchester," PBS. Season 9 is one of change, as vicar Will (Tom Brittany) receives a surprise offer, DI Geordie (Robson Green) must learn to work with a new vicar (Rishi Nair) and Geordie's independent daughter Esme (Skye Degruttola) is out in the big wide world of 1961.
• "Man Up," Peacock, Prime, and other streaming services. In this 2015 British romantic comedy, a journalist (Lake Bell) whose life is a mess pretends to be the blind date a marketing manager (Simon Pegg) was expecting. Comedy ensues. With Sharon Horgan ("Bad Sisters") and Rory Kinnear.
• "Wild Target," Prime, Peacock, and other streaming services. In this 2010 romantic comedy, a reclusive, middle-aged hitman (Bill Nighe) is flummoxed by his latest assigned hit, a beautiful, impetuous art swindler (Emily Blunt). With Rupert Grint, Rupert Everett, and Martin Freeman.
• "Homicide Los Angeles," Netflix. This docuseries from the creators of "Law and Order" tells the stories of notorious murders from the viewpoints of the detectives and prosecutors who cracked them.
• "Hit Monkey," Disney +/Hulu. Just another animated mismatched buddy action drama in which a Japanese snow monkey and the ghost of a hit man seek vengeance on bad guys. Bloody, bloody vengeance. With the voice talents of Olivia Munn, Jason Sudeikis, and George Takei.

Books:

• "Killingly," by Katharine Beutner. Based on the real-life disappearance of a Mount Holyoke student in 1897, this "haunting" novel delves into academia, family trauma, and the risks faced by unconventional women in the late 19th century.
• "Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone," by Benjamin Stevenson. An Australian comic has written a fun, witty novel that cleverly—very cleverly—blends classic and modern murder mysteries.

Click through the links above to watch and read what we're talking about.