PopaHALLics #129 "Girls, Girls, Girls"

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.

Chapters

• 1:08 "A Good Girl's Guide to Murder"
• 1:53 School Project: Solving a Murder
• 2:59 Unknown Actors Help Viewer Focus on Story
• 3:50 Not Soapy
• 4:02 "Abigail"
• 4:10 From Makers of "Ready or Not"
• 4:57 Kidnapping Goes Wrong Thanks to the Kid
• 5:25 Aims for Horror and Gross-Out Humor
• 6:21 "The Decameron"
• 6:49 Based on the Banned Novel
• 8:09 Flee the Plague, Take Your Problems with You
• 9:18 "Night Watching" Novel
• 9:57 Hiding during Home Invasion
• 11:09 Both Suspense and Psychological Thriller
• 11:49 "Lady in the Lake"
• 12:20 Two Women's Paths on a Collision Course
• 12:57 Racial Struggles
• 15:51 "Murky, Surreal," Suspect Characters
• 16:43 Steve Saw The Mavericks
• 18:06 "All You Ever Do is Bring Me Down"
• 18:16 "Dance the Night Away"
• 18:32 Opener Nicole Atkins
• 18:51 Her Music
• 21:01 Mavericks, Atkins on Our Playlist