The Incomparable Mothership

Put on your summer best and board a ferry to New England’s hottest tourist destination! It’s time for us to discuss “Widow’s Bay,” a funny horror story about the mayor and other denizens of a cursed island. Of course there’s a creepy clown, and a slasher, and a dark secret that goes back centuries. Of course Stephen Root is wild-eyed! Once you visit Widow’s Bay, you’ll never want to leave… which is good, because you might not be able to. Jason Snell with Annette Wierstra, Tony Sindelar and Monty Ashley.

It’s one of the best “Star Trek” movies, a classic Dad Movie, and the start of a franchise that never really started. It’s “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” in which oceans have become battlefields and privateer ships lurk like horror-movie monsters. Don’t get attached to any of those nice young sailors! Jason Snell with Steven Schapansky, Philip Michaels and Brian Warren.

Non-linearly begin and end your journey across a wide range of cursed islands! We discuss Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” a film now in theatres and a story that’s (nearly) 3,000 years old! Pig sculpting! Lotus eating! Horrible horse hiding! Were we the sea people all along? That’s a tale as old as time. Jason Snell with Brian Warren, Glenn Fleishman, Kathy Campbell and Moisés Chiullán.

Our awards shortlist book club rolls on with a selection of books we’re much more receptive to: “A Drop of Corruption” by Robert Jackson Bennett, “The Raven Scholar” by Antonia Hodgson, and The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow. Jason Snell with Aleen Simms, Erika Ensign, Scott McNulty, Heather Berberet and Paul Weimer.

Get out your PowerBooks and prepare to punch an alien in patriotic fashion! We celebrate Independence Day with a 30-year-old film, “Independence Day”! It’s a lot of movie. Is Jason ready to forgive it? Jason Snell with Moisés Chiullán, David J. Loehr, Aleen Simms and Tony Sindelar.