2025年7月8日 星期二

Still More 60s Movies 4

I'll be adding to this as I go along.


1. Never On Sunday (1960)

Very racy for the time period.  Not only does this film center around an unrepentant prostitute, but this character and her various male companions are shown in various states of undress.

Melina Mercouri stars as a woman who happily exchanges sexual favors with men of her choosing, while the director and Mercouri's husband, Jules Dassin, co-stars as an American trying and failing to teach her the error of her ways.  Playing out in the background is an estrangement between Western ideals of Greece and what that country actually is (or was).  Never On Sunday is a compelling tale of how idealization falls flat in the face of reality, and after its release Mercouri would be awarded Best Actress at Cannes.

She'd go on to become Greece's Minister for Culture in 1981.


2. Goodbye Again (1961)

A young American pursues a much older woman around Paris.  It's alright as this kind of movie goes, but it felt too much like a play to me and Anthony Perkins was far from convincing.  He was coming off Psycho when this was filmed, and yes, he won at Cannes for his performance in Goodbye Again, but his acting in this movie was a little too cartoonish, and out of step with what the other actors were trying to do.

The ending is depressingly memorable though.  Ingrid Bergman, alone, staring into that mirror.  Yeah, that one's going to stay with me.

Related Entries:

2025年7月5日 星期六

Movies and Memories


Jaws hit theaters in 1975, the year I was born.  I didn't see it in a theater because I was, of course, not even a year old.  Jaws is a fantastic movie though.  It was on TV all the time when I was a kid.  

Cable or network TV?  For the life of me I can't remember.


The last letter of Jaws is "S."  What's another movie from around the same time period that starts with "S?"  Suspiria, I think.  Yes, Suspiria came out two years later, in 1977.

Suspiria is one of those weird, great movies that you just know the director's never going to top.  I can't remember which one came first, Deep Red or Suspiria, but they're both unquestionably great movies from Dario Argento.  

Both movies represent an Italian film industry that's now a shadow of its former self.  One thing that people often overlook about the 70s is that for every American movie there was an Italian copy, or if not an outright copy then a movie that took elements of an American film and combined them with elements of other films that the Italians thought might work together.  At their best Italian movies of the 70s had their own well developed sense of style, but there were also Italian films that were shots in the dark, combinations of different genres that didn't always stand on their own merits.

Many of the women in 1970s Italian movies were extremely beautiful.  The Italians had a great eye for stunningly attractive women.  Many of these women weren't even Italian, but rather imports from other countries.  Laura Gemser and Barbara Bach come to mind.


The last letter of Suspiria is "A."  What's another movie from that time period that starts with "A?"  American Graffiti, which Wikipedia tells me came out in 1973.

I was never a big fan of American Graffiti.  It's... OK I guess, but to me it always seemed more like a TV pilot than an actual movie.  It's cool to see latter-day stars like Richard Dreyfuss or Harrison Ford before they were famous, but beyond that I never got much out of that film.

Have you seen the sequel?  More American Graffiti brings us to 1979, the year in which the disco scene imploded.  As little as I enjoyed American Graffiti, I have to say that it feels like Jaws compared to its nearly unwatchable sequel.  A lot of More American Graffiti features a series of split screens,  all of them contributing to the movie's unintelligibility.  Who's talking now?  Which one of them should I be listening to?  Are we sure we don't want all of them to die in Vietnam?  More American Graffiti truly is a trainwreck of cinematic proportions.


The last letter of American Graffiti is "I."  What's another movie from the same time period that starts with "I?"  I actually drew a blank on this one, but Wikipedia tells me that a Brazilian film titled I Love You came out in 1981.  Sonia Braga starred in this one, who you might remember from a few American films like Moon Over Parador.

Moon Over Parador, like Jaws, was another film featuring Richard Dreyfuss.  Apparently he's a difficult person to work with.  He's a great actor though.  Mr. Holland's Opus is one of my favorite movies.


The last letter of I Love You is "U."  What's another movie from the same time period that starts with "U?"  Under the Cherry Moon, released in 1986, comes to mind.  Have I seen Under the Cherry Moon?  I'm not sure.  Looking at the poster and focusing in on the name, I want to say that yes, I've seen it, but if I have it was a long time ago.

Prince was ubiquitous in the 80s.  They played his songs on MTV and the radio constantly.  I started to hate Prince and everything to do with Purple Rain for this reason.  Is he a good guitar player?  Undoubtedly!  Do I enjoy his earlier and later music?  Sure!  But MTV and FM radio shoved Prince very far down our throats in the 80s, to the point where I can't be objective about his most famous album.

Apollonia sure was sexy though.  Anyone else remember Apollonia?  As a kid that scene in Purple Rain where Prince gets with Apollonia gave me shameful, furtive thoughts that I dared not speak aloud.


The last letter of Under the Cherry Moon is "N."  What's another movie from the same time period that starts with "N?"  Ah yes, Near Dark came out a year later, in 1987.

Near Dark is yet another vampire movie from the second half of the 1980s.  Fright Night, The Lost Boys, the oft-overlooked Lifeforce... there were a lot of vampire movies released during the late 80s.

I can understand Near Dark's cult status, and I can also remember enjoying it at the time.  Thing is that during those years a lot of us were suffering from a "vampire fatigue" not unlike the present day's superhero fatigue, and Near Dark, for all its redeeming features, was ignored by many for this very reason.  

In its way this film is also "Aliens-adjacent," in that Bill Paxton, Lance Henriksen and Jenette Goldstein are all to be found in both movies.


The last letter of Near Dark is "K."  What's another movie from the same time period that starts with "K?"  Thanks again, Wikipedia: K2 brings us into the 90s.

Michael Biehn!  Yep, another Aliens connection.  In this film he plays a guy who - you guessed it - tries to climb the famously elevated mountain.  Does he succeed?  I suppose you'll have to watch the movie and find out.

If you ever find yourself wondering what happened to Michael Biehn, there are a ton of interviews with him on YouTube to that effect.  Short answer: ego and alcohol.  He could have been a lot bigger star than he was, but personal and professional problems intervened.

1993's Tombstone, released around a year after K2, was Biehn's last big movie, though in both Tombstone (and 1996's The Rock) he's largely overshadowed by other cast members.


The last letter of K2 is not a letter but rather a number, this being the number 2.  What other movie from the same time period started with 2 or "Two?"  Two Women, an Iranian film (!) brings us all the way to 1999, the year I left Seattle and moved to Taiwan, where I am now writing this.

I haven't seen Two Women, but there are good Iranian movies out there if you can find them.  I liked Taste of Cherry (which yes, sounds like porn but isn't), and A Separation, which tackles the subject of marital estrangement in a very repressive environment.


The last letter of Two Women is "N."  What's another movie from the same time period that starts with "N?"  Or, I might as well ask, how many movies have "night" as the first word of their title?  Too many, I think.  Let me settle on 2006's Night at the Museum. which is a movie I've seen many, many times.

The Night at the Museum movies are a bit sad in retrospect.  Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt, Robin Williams with the clock ticking over his head.  He wouldn't live much longer, Robin Williams.  He'd take his own life in 2014, and thereafter we'd all be wondering what might have been.

He was a great actor.  I'm a big fan of One Hour Photo, but even aside from that Insomnia is an excellent movie from the same time period.  Check him out in The World According to Garp, when he decides to reconcile with his wife.  That scene is completely unrealistic given the circumstances, but even so he sells it like nobody's business.


The last letter of Night at the Museum is "M."  What other movie from the same time period starts with "M?"  "M" is an easy one, so I'll pick 2010's Machete, which is a movie that most of us have forgotten about.

It's a fever dream of casting: Danny Trejo, Jessica Alba, Robert De Niro, Jeff Fahey (!), Don Johnson, Cheech Marin and even Tom Savini, best remembered both as the dude who gets his head blown off in Maniac and the biker disemboweled in Dawn of the Dead.

I'm thankful to director Robert Rodriguez for both Sin City and Desperado, though I think that he often punches below his weight class.  The guy has talent, but he wastes it on ephemeral things like the Spy Kids franchise or Alita: Battle Angel.  I've always felt that he could be doing a lot more with his gifts, and I'm waiting for the day when he'll surprise us all again.


The last letter of Machete is "E."  What other movie from the same time period starts with "E?"  The Equalizer 3 I suppose, which is a surprisingly good movie set in Italy.

Where else would Denzel Washington hide after the second installment?  Uh... lots of other places I guess, but they picked Italy so I'll roll with it.

Italy, that birthplace of Giallo and opportunistic employer of impossibly beautiful women.  Again Laura Gemser and Barbara Bach come to mind.  Barbara Bach, who is still married to one of the Beatles.

The Equalizer 3?  I dunno, it's OK I suppose.  It's been a while since I've seen it.



The last letter of The Equalizer 3 is not a letter but rather a number, this number being 3 or "three."  And what movie from the same time period starts with "three?"  In the 2020s I am only able to find The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan, which is a French movie that I meant to watch but later forgot about entirely.

Vincent Cassel is awesome however.  I'll watch anything with that guy in it.  Did you know he voiced one of the characters in Shrek?

And Shrek featured Mike Myers, who was also in Wayne's World alongside Rob Lowe...

...who was in The Hotel New Hampshire alongside Jodie Foster...

...who was in Taxi Driver alongside Robert De Niro...

...who was in The Deer Hunter alongside Meryl Streep...

...who was in Postcards from the Edge alongside Richard Dreyfuss...

...who was in Jaws, which was released the year that I was born.

Related Entries:

2025年6月29日 星期日

"The Algorithm" by Hilke Schellmann (2024)


"'These problems are hard because we can't predict the future,' Arvind Narayanan said, 'That should be common sense.  But we seem to have decided to suspend common sense when AI is involved.'"

Hilke Schellmann is an investigative reporter and professor of journalism.  Her work on AI has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal.

In this book, subtitled "how AI decides who gets hired, monitored, promoted and fired and why we need to fight back now," the author explores the types of algorithms used by vendors and corporations to ensure productivity through AI- (or algorithm-) enhanced hiring practices.  Throughout her exploration of this topic the author decries a lack of transparency on the part of companies advancing such an agenda, and also the inadequacy of many algorithms with regard to hiring better workers.

The Algorithm probably won't tell you anything you don't know (or haven't suspected) about the corporate uses of AI already, but it does do a nice job of tying different aspects of the current AI trend together, resulting in a conclusion which is equal parts worrying and reassuring.  This conclusion is, moreover, a call to action, in that the author hopes that public policy can be used as a safeguard against unfair hiring practices and the illegal monitoring of citizens.

I'd recommend this book for those wondering how big companies and local governments hire people in 2025.  You might even find that some of the tactics discussed in this book have already been used against you.

Related Entries:

2025年6月27日 星期五

A Big Month for Superhero Movies


July's around the corner, and I assume that both Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps will be arriving in your local multiplex soon.  In my neck of the woods Superman arrives July 9, and Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters on July 23.

With all the superhero movies already on record, you wouldn't think that either Superman or Fantastic Four: First Steps would be such a big deal, but both films represent something of a pivot for their respective studios, and both DC and Marvel have hinged a lot of their future plans on the success of either movie.

2025's Superman will be the seventh film to feature Superman as its main character, not counting the serial features and shorts of the 1940s, animated features and movies in which Superman was (arguably) a secondary character.  This newest attempt at the Man of Steel follows Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, a film which was the last entry in the DC Extended Universe, or DCEU.  In the wake (if you'll excuse the slight pun) of the DCEU's implosion, 2025's Superman will serve as the first movie in the new DC Universe, or DCU.

Superman's director, James Gunn, has claimed that the new DCU will retain some elements of the DCEU moving forward, but I highly doubt that any of these elements will be especially obvious given the rather ignominious end suffered by that earlier cinematic universe.  I could see them holding on to cast members or plot elements that Gunn was previously involved with, but I doubt we'll see any of the major players or events from the DCEU in the DCU.

Looking forward, Superman will lead into Supergirl, which will hit theaters around a year from now.  That film is already in post-production.  On the heels of that movie will be Clayface, The Authority and The Brave and the Bold, all of which are in various stages of development.

And I've got to say here, Clayface sounds a whole helluva lot like a CBM version of The Substance, a movie which was a surprise hit last year.  Those involved in the production are comparing it to The Fly, but allowing for Hollywood logic I'm thinking The Substance.  It might not even fall within the DCU proper.

The Authority and The Brave and the Bold, however, will definitely be connected to Superman in various ways.  The Engineer, a prominent member of the The Authority, is already set to appear in Superman, and The Brave and the Bold, focusing as it does on the Bat-Family, seems like an ideal match for what Gunn is attempting in Superman.  James Mangold's Swamp Thing, assuming he's still attached as director once that movie finally enters production, should also be part of the DCU.

There are also various television series in development, all of them following Creature Commandos' lead.  There will be another season of Peacemaker, followed by Lanterns and maybe even Booster Gold if that series ever gets off the ground.  I'm not that enthusiastic about any of these efforts, partly because I've lost a lot of my patience with the tie-in TV shows (thanks, Marvel), and partly because I don't subscribe to HBO Max.  If a friend raves over one or more of them I'll give them a look, but otherwise I plan of having them pass me by.

Also, and I have to be honest here, I've always found the Green Lantern mythos boring.  I get that some people love it, but for me the idea of a guy with a ring that can basically do anything is less than interesting.  I've tried with some of those comics, but no, the concept just isn't working for me.


So much for Superman.  What about Fantastic Four: First Steps?  Well, to begin with it will be the fourth movie to feature the Fantastic Four, or the fifth movie if you count the Roger Corman version from the 90s.  Fantastic Four: First Steps will be the 37th (!) film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the first within its Phase Six.  This phase will include Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

And let us not forget the two MCU films which rounded out the MCU's Phase Five this year, these being the disastrously bad Captain America: Brave New World and the far superior Thunderbolts.  Even Thunderbolts, however, was something of a financial disappointment for the studio, despite the fact that audiences and critics got firmly behind it.

The MCU may not have gone down in flames like the DCEU, but Marvel Studios has definitely been put on notice that expectations are higher now.  Gone are the days when something like Captain Marvel can skate by on its connectedness to other, bigger films.  Audiences aren't willing to sit through that kind of thing any longer, not with movies like Ant Man: Quantumania, Eternals and Brave New World in our collective memory.  The pressure is on Marvel to actually make this one good, and if it somehow fails (which, at this point in time, seems unlikely), it will have to return to the 'ol drawing board and revise its future plans.

TV shows aside, at the time of writing future MCU films seem to be either Doctor Strange 3 or Black Panther 3, followed by X-Men, which is a strong possibility for 2028 or thereabouts.  The director of Thunderbolts has already been hired for X-Men, and this MCU adaptation of the world's most popular mutant soap opera is probably the MCU's most anticipated movie to date.

In my opinion any Marvel X-Men film that veers closer to Jonathan Hickman's work on the characters should do well.  I know there are a lot of Chris Claremont fans out there, but no, that kind of angst wouldn't translate well into a movie.  TV?  Sure, some people loved it in the CW Flash, but it wouldn't work in a movie.

Of the two films, Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps, I'm definitely looking forward to Fantastic Four WAY more.  I admire James Gunn, and I think what he did with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was amazing, but I've been waiting for a good Fantastic Four movie forever.  I think John Byrne's work on that title in the 80s was classic, and I'd love to see some of that science fiction weirdness up on a screen.

Not that I'm not open to Superman being as good as, or even better than Fantastic Four: First Steps  I'm very open to the possibility.  If both movies are genuinely good we all win, and who knows what doors the success of both might open in the future?  Maybe another shot at The Flash?  Another Ghost Rider?  I'd love either of those things to happen, and there is still a wealth of stories and characters to draw from in the comics.  Dare I hope for a Captain Atom movie?  A Punisher kills the MCU adaptation?  Some of the weirder Epic and Vertigo comics from back in the day?

Anyway, see you at the local theater.  Here's hoping July is a good month for comic book movie fans.

Related Entries:

2025年6月22日 星期日

"Mecca" by Susan Straight (2022)


"Sergeant Michael Miller Sr. hated us all.  'Inland Empire assholes - don't you guys have brain damage from birth?  Wait, Frias is from the OC.  How the hell is he the best shot at the range?'"

Susan Straight is an American novelist who also teaches Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside.  To date she's had nine novels published, of which Mecca is her most recent.

Mecca opens with Johnny Frias, a California highway patrolman with a dark secret.  From Johnny the novel moves on to a cast of largely Mexican-American (or Hispanic American) characters trying to survive in southern California, some of them there legally, and some of them on the lookout for ICE.  Towards the end of the novel COVID intervenes, and on the heels of COVID there's an uptick in immigration raids leading to a standoff on a reservation in the California desert.

It's a good book, even if it doesn't quite come together in the end.  The characters are for the most part convincing, although some of the male characters seem unnecessarily macho at times.  It's no easy thing to (literally) break someone's face, and that part of the book could have used both more buildup and more explanation beforehand.

As you might imagine, this novel also checks off a lot of diversity boxes.  Character who's a single mother?  Check.  Character who's a black single mother?  Check.  Character who's a black Hispanic Native American single mother?  Also check.  Mecca doesn't go out of its way to include gay, trans or handicapped characters, but in all other respects it's guaranteed to infuriate your average Trump supporter.

I'm hoping that the author only happened to check off all those diversity boxes, and that the presence of so many ethnicities isn't just pandering.  I don't think that it is.  At least I hope it's not.

I do have one serious complaint about Mecca, however, and this complaint is that some of the antagonists are very one dimensional.  I think that delving into the personalities and motivations of the police sergeant, the rich benefactress and at least one of those evil ICE agents would have made this book much stronger. 

This said, the first 3/4 of this book is excellent.  The remaining 1/4?  It wasn't the heart-rending climax I was hoping for.

Related Entries:

2025年6月12日 星期四

"Human Acts" by Han Kang (2014)


"When she finally came down from the loft the next evening, her mother informed her that the corpses had been loaded into the city garbage trucks and driven off to a mass grave."

The Gwangju Uprising was a series of anti-government protests which occurred in 1980.  Back then military dictator Chun Doo-hwan, acting as President, implemented martial law across South Korea.  Many took issue with both Chun Doo-hwan's usurpation of executive authority and the harsh regime he represented, and in response many workers and students in Gwangju took to the streets to voice their opposition.  Both their uprising and the government's violent response to it form a dark chapter in South Korean history, and it is this harsh episode which is the subject of Han Kang's novel.

Human Acts tells the story of the Gwangju Uprising from several different perspectives.  We see this momentous event through the eyes of one of the students who lived through it, through the memories of a former factory girl involved in the labor movement, and even through the eyes of a corpse left to rot in an out of the way location.  The multiple perspectives on this same event cross over one another in surprising ways, and often converge around the figure of Dong-ho, a middle school student killed by the army very early on in the novel.

It's a fully realized account of an event which few outside of South Korea are familiar with.  The author was clearly consumed by the event upon which she was writing, and even though the extremely dark subject matter was hard to get through at times, I'm still glad that I came upon this book, and saw it through to the end.

Author Han Kang was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature last year.  I've seen copies of The Vegetarian in local bookstores, and I might read that one once I've finished a few other books first.

Related Entries:

2025年6月2日 星期一

"Intermezzo" by Sally Rooney (2024)


"At the kitchen table, she sits and eats alone, knowing that after she's finished eating she will have to wash up individually each utensil she has used to prepare and eat this meal, and to wipe down also each surface involved: the sink-side countertop, the fridge-side countertop, the cooking surface, and the kitchen table itself."

Sally Rooney is an Irish novelist.  At the time of writing she's penned four novels, Intermezzo being the most recent.

In the novel two brothers, Peter and Ivan, grieve over their father's death from cancer.  Peter is a barrister living in Dublin, while Ivan is a former chess prodigy living in Peter's shadow.  As the story unfolds the two brothers come to terms with their father's absence, with Ivan's quest to become the first Irish Grandmaster being an oft-revisited thread throughout the narrative.

Sally Rooney's prose will remind you a lot of James Joyce, though unlike Joyce her stream-of-consciousness approach often wears out its welcome.  I found it a bit unfortunate that she chose to quote Joyce in the novel, given that she's no James Joyce and Intermezzo is a far cry from UlyssesIntermezzo isn't terrible, but in reminding the reader of a far better novel this one can only suffer by comparison.

In dramatic terms I was also disappointed by this book.  The events it presents seem to be out of order, and they certainly don't add up to the big, life-changing moment that the author was aiming for.  Giving us a clearer picture of the two brothers and their relationship in the beginning of the novel would have made for smoother sailing later on, and even now, having just finished it, I'm not sure that I completely understand who Peter is or what he's about.  The (Catholic) guilt over a polyamorous affair I get, but I never got a sense of why he was so angry and troubled all the time, or why he was so dissatisfied with his life after the funeral.

There are critics who fawned over this book, and Sally Rooney has been hailed as both "one of the foremost millennial writers" and "one of the most influential people in the world."  If you ask me Intermezzo is only a passable effort, leaning as it does on the work of a much better writer.

Related Entries:

2025年5月15日 星期四

"Shards of Earth" by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2021)


"Solace nodded.  The Betrayed were a relatively new faction within internal Colonial politics.  They were officially decried by Hugh and yet, mysteriously, they'd never been outlawed.  The Parthenon didn't care for the legitimate Nativist movement either, which was all about returning to one unified human identity.  They celebrated old Earth and embraced the rhetoric of humanity's past glories.  The Betrayed went a step further, preaching that humanity would have been the galaxy's dominant species, if allowed to fight the Architects 'properly.'"

Adrian Tchaikovsky is a British author of science fiction.  He arrived at science fiction from interests in zoology and role-playing games.  At the time of writing he's written over 30 novels and has received many awards.

Shards of Earth is the first book in The Final Architecture series.  It's followed by Eyes of the Void and Lords of UncreationShards of Earth won the Best Novel award from the British Science Fiction Association.

In Shards of Earth a crew of space salvagers find themselves at odds with several different spacefaring civilizations, some of these human and some of them not.  While the salvagers contend with various interested parties over the contents and nature of a salvaged ship, the galaxy wrings its hands over the fate of the Architects, a destructive race of beings seemingly absent from the scene for an extended period of time.  But are the Architects truly absent from the scene?  And can our crew of space salvagers reveal the truth about these Architects before it's too late?

In terms of tone and characterization this book reminded me a lot of Star Wars, although it's a much bloodier take on that type of science fiction.  Spaceships vanish into and return from a kind of hyperspace without any thought given to relativistic time dilation, and other futuristic plot elements are also treated in very cursory terms.  

I'm not complaining about this aspect of the book because sometimes dwelling on such matters gets in the way of the story the author is trying to tell.  It's often enough to let the crab alien in the corner just be the crab alien in the corner, and to let the sentient cockroach colony think its thoughts without trying to explain why it's thinking those thoughts.  Pondering such things can be fruitful for many science fiction authors, but not for all of them.  In this respect I'm glad that Adrian Tchaikovsky knows what kind of author he is, and what kind of story he's trying to tell.

I found Shards of Earth a bit slow in parts, and the ending seemed to go on longer than it should have, but overall I enjoyed it.  The doses of gore peppered throughout the story were appreciated, as were the interactions between the more eccentric human characters and the stranger sorts of aliens.  I have the feeling that if someone tried to make a movie out of Shards of Earth they'd probably bungle it, but as the book stands it represents some very solid storytelling that left me wanting more.

I look forward to reading Eyes of the Void and Lords of Uncreation soon.  Science fiction of this caliber isn't easy to find nowadays.

Related Entries:

2025年4月24日 星期四

"The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd (2002)


"A pause followed.  I crept closer to the edge of the porch.  'I just have a feeling about this, June.  Something tells me not to send her back to some place she doesn't want to be.  Not yet, at least.  She has some reason for leaving.  Maybe he mistreated her.  I believe we can help her."

Sue Monk Kidd is an American author who sometimes writes fiction, sometimes writes self-help books.  At the time of writing she's penned nine books, the most recent being 2020's The Book of Longings, a novel.

In The Secret Life of Bees a young white girl living in the South in the 1960s escapes to a family of strong, empowered black women.  And yes, that description sounds super "woke," and yes, I suppose it is.  Anyhow, she escapes to said house and learns about both the art of keeping bees and the discrimination with which her housemates contend on a daily basis, thereby coming to new understandings of herself, her personal history and the region in which she lives.

In other words it's your typical Lifetime movie fodder, or in this case the inspiration for a wider release motion picture that not many people saw.  The starring roles in the movie went to Queen Latifa and Dakota Fanning, two actresses who probably did what they could with a somewhat derivative, less-than-inspired script.  I haven't seen this movie, mind you, but I imagine that it's a far cry from The Help or other, more concise attempts at storytelling.

The movie was, nevertheless, an opportunity to improve upon the novel.  Instead of having the protagonist wait a staggering six months for her heart-to-heart conversation with her host, the movie could have reduced that waiting period to a more believable few weeks.  Instead of overemphasizing a kind of backyard Catholicism, the movie could have minimized that aspect, keeping the theme of female empowerment without dwelling on the cult-like aspects of the characters' belief in a "Lady of Chains."  The movie could have also minimized the crying jags at the end of this book, and instead cut to the chase, fast forwarding to the protagonist's confrontation with her father.  This father, for that matter, could have been a more fully realized character, instead of a cartoonish villain plagued by a sense of loss that's never really explored.

Now of course I haven't seen the movie, but it might have done some or all of the above.  Given its 60% score on Rotten Tomatoes I'm sure it fumbled some of the plot elements described above, but it might be interesting to compare the movie and the book.

The novel itself?  Eh, it's OK.  I've read much worse.  It's no Gone with the Wind or anything, but it's OK.

Related Entries:

2025年4月6日 星期日

"The Last Duel" by Eric Jager (2004)


"The standard field for judicial combat was a flat rectangular space measuring forty by eighty paces, or about one hundred by two hundred feet."

Eric Jager is a Professor of English at the University of California.  To date he's written four books on medieval topics.

The (far more interesting) 2021 film by Ridley Scott notwithstanding, The Last Duel is a straightforward work of history detailing a dispute between two nobles in late 14th century France over the supposed rape of one noble's wife.

If you're arriving at this book from the movie it will probably bore you to tears.  Where the movie crackles with dramatic tension the book is a much slower, much more chronological exploration of the same event.  And even though the nature of the rape itself is called into question by various historical sources, none of the other events described in this book are matters of conjecture, to the point where this book seems like a foregone conclusion from the outset.

I can only blame the marketing department.  Medieval history is one of my favorite subjects, but having been led to this book by the movie, I was sorely disappointed by its contents.  Even lacking any dramatic impact, I think the book could have been a more enlightening (if you'll forgive the pun) venue for a wider understanding of the time period in which it's set.  As it is it's fairly pedestrian, and it lacks the wider, more scholarly viewpoint of other works that delve into the same time period.

Related Entries:

2025年3月11日 星期二

"The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein (2008)


"The clues were all there, I simply hadn't read them correctly.  Over the winter, he had played a video racing game obsessively, which wasn't like him.  He had never gotten into racing games.  But that winter, he played the game every night before Eve went to bed.  And he raced on American circuits only."

Garth Stein is an American author, filmmaker and amateur race car driver resident in Seattle.  He's written four novels, of which The Art of Racing in the Rain is the most famous.

The story's protagonist is Denny, a married father of one daughter with dreams of racing glory.  His doings are told from his dog Enzo's point of view, with most of the novel delving into a long, drawn out custody battle between Denny and his parents-in-law.

As you've probably guessed already, they made this one into a movie, and the reviews weren't especially good.  Several movie critics complained that certain plot elements were very contrived, and I wouldn't blame the film's Hollywood production team for this fact.  The novel itself is contrived, in particular Denny's sexual assault at the hands of a young girl, and also the way in which his parents-in-law switch from good to evil at the drop of a hat.  Giving these parents-in-law more reasons to attack Denny in court would have made this book much better, but as it is they come across as cartoon villains, only present in the narrative to give Denny a reason to triumph in the face of extreme adversity.

All in all it's a very forgettable novel, though certain episodes in later chapters did bring a smile to my face.  This said, every character aside from Denny needed more agency, and the dog's constant philosophizing wears out its welcome at times.

Related Entries:

2025年3月4日 星期二

"The Marriage Lie" by Kimberly Belle (2017)


"And now I'm crying again, both at Corban's obvious affection for Will and the idea that he had a friend, one he liked and trusted enough to share the most private parts of himself [sic] but, for some reason I'll never know, [sic] decided to keep that friendship from me.  Why would he do such a thing?"

Kimberly Belle is an American author of thrillers.  At the time of writing she's had six books published.  She divides her time between Atlanta, where most of The Marriage Lie is set, and Amsterdam.

In The Marriage LIE (emphasis mine -- it seems appropriate given the histrionic nature of this book), Iris Griffiths learns that her husband has an unsavory past .  In search of this past she journeys to exotic south Seattle and its "projects," where she further discovers elements of his history that shake her to her very foundations.

"Projects..." "foundations," get it?  Maybe you do, and its just not funny.  Whatever, I'm a bit tired today.

Anyhoo, you might be able to guess the rest of the book.  By way of further explanation there's a gay twin brother, the husband's steroidal gym bro, and an inexplicably friendly lawyer who probably isn't so much nice as on a mission to bang a grieving widow.

It's all very formulaic and less than surprising.  The climax of the book is a standoff with the police, and the final chapter makes you wonder if the protagonist ever really knew her husband at all, given that his actions are so out of step with what she'd come to believe about him.

Related Entries:

2025年2月13日 星期四

Some Other Movies From 2025

I'll be adding to this as the year progresses.


1. Captain America: Brave New World

Perhaps the most thoroughly OK (if thoroughly forgettable) movie that Marvel Studios has yet produced.  The parts they tinkered with after filming wrapped are obvious, and as a whole the production lacks focus.  Oh well Marvel, you can't win 'em all?  It's been a weird few years for everyone...

The most compelling character here is probably Harrison Ford's Thaddeus Ross, even though the way in which Sam Wilson defeats him is one of the most contrived plot points ever.

Anthony Mackie has some good moments in this film, and for what it's worth Brave New World increased my appreciation for his character, but I still think the wings + shield combo is a bit much, especially since neither the wings nor the shield obey the laws of physics.  The fight scenes that don't involve either the wings or the shield are better, but even so Mackie's character seems lost within his own movie, sidelined behind WAY more interesting characters like Isaiah Bradley, President Ross and even Sidewinder.

A straight-ahead Red Hulk movie would have been more to the point.


2. Mickey 17

Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho follows up 2019's Parasite with Mickey 17, a science fiction movie with a wry sense of humor.

I'd seen some of Robert Pattinson's more indie efforts beforehand, and I'd also seen Mark Ruffalo in 2023's Poor Things, so the quirkiness of this film didn't really surprise me.  What did surprise me was the narrative sweep of this movie, which encompasses themes ranging from immortality, the nature of the human spirit and the morality of killing.

Mickey 17 isn't bad, but it's a far cry from 2009's Moon, which does a lot more with a lot less.  For me the weak point of the film was the dialogue, which relies heavily upon the word "fuck."  Parasite it most certainly isn't, but there are some interesting ideas to be found in Mickey 17.


3. The Electric State

The Russo Brothers return with a movie that'll remind you of Ready Player One, and not necessarily in a good way.  Chris Pratt offers his standard (if likeable) Chris Pratt performance, while Millie Bobbie Brown continues to channel an entire nation of Swifties.  The robots?  They range from mildly annoying to extremely so.

This Electric State traffics a fair amount of 80s/90s nostalgia, but beyond that it doesn't have much of a plot to speak of.  Robots with their own intelligence are somehow bad, while robots implanted with human intelligences are somehow good.  And none of the implicit leaps in AI seem, in this cinematic universe, to have amounted to anything else at all, a fact completely unaccounted for by the movie.


4. Popeye the Slayer Man

"It's the spinach!  You need to stop eating it!  It's destroying your mind!"

Yes, I actually paid actual money to see Popeye the Slayer Man.  No idea why.  Guess I was bored.

Thinking about seeing this movie?  All I can say is set your expectations low and you won't be disappointed.  Popeye has, for the most part, two finishing moves: the skull crush and the forearm snap.  He moves really slow, and the people he chases get lost very easily.


5. A Working Man

Jason Statham outing which will remind you a bit of John Wick and maybe also Mandy.  Surprisingly enough Sylvester Stallone co-wrote the script, and for director David Ayer it's something of a return to form.  I think it packs more punch that The Beekeeper, another recent Statham film.


6. A Minecraft Movie

It's mostly dumb, sometimes funny, extremely colorful and it might just be the respite you need from news of tariffs, gold cards and whatever else Trump is doing (or not doing) now.  The star of this movie is definitely Jason Momoa, who steals the show in much the same way he stole the show in Fast X.

Fun Fact: Director Jared Hess's first film was Napoleon Dynamite.


7. The Accountant 2

If you liked the first movie (and who didn't?) you'll like this one too.  It starts 8 years after the first one ended, and it stays true to the original characters.  I'm not sure that the lighter moments and the darker moments really balance out, but overall it's a good movie and I enjoyed it.


8. The Thunderbolts*

Comic book movie fans rejoice!  This one's MILES better than Captain America: New World Order.  It does a lot with the Sentry character, and the interplay between the various members of Marvel's anti-hero team is engaging throughout.  Florence Pugh and Julia Louis-Dreyfus do most of the heavy lifting here, but former Hellboy David Harbour also adds a lot to this movie.

...and now we just need to wait another two months for the summer's real heavy hitters, James Gunn's Superman and Fantastic Four: First Steps.  Of the two movies I'm looking forward to Fantastic Four a lot more.  Hopefully it'll be able to capitalize on the momentum built up in Thunderbolts*.


9. Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning

It's alright.  My biggest complaints are the overabundance of exposition in the beginning and the fact that it's way too long.  The submarine part is cool up to a point, but it grows increasingly implausible once Ethan Hunt considers egress via torpedo tube.

And the airplane stunts near the end?  Impressive in their way, but a little too similar to scenes from previous movies.


10. Final Destination: Bloodlines

Running away from death?  Yeah, good luck with that.  For what it's worth I'd already seen the other four movies, though I couldn't remember much from any of them.

As horror movies go Bloodlines, is very... OK, but it's not likely to leave a lasting impression.  The opening bit in the badly designed tower is somewhat memorable, but upon the release of inevitable future installments you're likely to forget which entry in the series featured this particular tragedy.

My favorite imminent death scene remains that scene in the hardware store from Final Destination... Whatever It WasBloodlines fails to top that one, but it's OK in my book.


11. Lilo & Stitch

No, of course I didn't go see it under my own steam.  I was dragged into this particular screening by the person I happen to be married to, a person who insisted that after Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning I "owed her one."

OK, whatever.  Lilo & Stitch was relatively painless.  It was almost funny in parts, and Lilo's older sister is played by a very beautiful actress who's endured online bullying over the fact that she's not 110% native Hawaiian.

As a guy old enough to have taken one of his children to a showing of the 2002 film in the then-local theater, I can confidently assert that this remake adds almost nothing to the original, and that it is in fact only a pale reflection of what we watched in 2002.  But we all knew that right?  No one was surprised?


12. M3gan 2.0

Not even remotely close to a horror movie, but good nonetheless.  It plays with a lot of themes that may be familiar from Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ex Machina and other, more recent treatises on AI, but it's very much its own creature, not unlike its titular protagonist.

And yes, it's MUCH better than the first one.  Hats off to whoever wrote the script.  This movie could have been a bit shorter, but even so it's much better than it has any right to be.

The critics didn't love M3gan 2.0 but I'm going to disagree with them in this instance.  I think that given the bare bones nature of the first installment this film adds a lot to the franchise.


13. K-Pop Demon Hunters

Yes, I'm a 50 year old man and I watched this.  What?  You got a problem with that?

Going in I thought I'd hate it, but it's not bad at all.  The songs are good, and the story offers a good ratio of East to West.  It's K-pop without the saddening amounts of plastic surgery and mercenary contract negotiations (or lack thereof), it's the idea of an industry rather than the industry itself, and that approach works well for its 1.5 hour runtime.


14. Superman

Pros: David Corenswet is a convincing Superman/Clark Kent and Rachel Brosnahan is a convincing Lois Lane.  Nicholas Hoult is a more than convincing Lex Luthor.  He might even be the best iteration of that character seen thus far on screen.

Cons: This movie is juggling too many characters and it's extremely talky.  It's also doing all the heavy lifting with regard to setting up the present and future DC cinematic universe, and at times I wished characters would stop explaining things so much.

Fan Service (or at least what I can remember): There's a sign on the freeway for the exit to Gotham City.  Maxwell Lord shows up near the end, and a lot of the "dimensional rift" business might well lead to a multiverse in future movies.

I'm assuming that this "Planetwatch" organization funded by Luthor is a stand-in for Stormwatch, which will eventually develop into The Authority.

Overall: I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10.  Its main flaw is an attempt to do too much in too short a period of time, but it does have many redeeming features and it's the best offering in terms of DC properties in quite a while.

Related Entries: