I am completely ready for summer to be done...so of course, it's a heatwave outside. Ugh.
Movies:
Not many movies for August...I got a little burned out after the last two months, I think. But I did make it out to see two.
The Man from UNCLE was a great take on the old television show. I loved all the 60s clothing and music. It just looked so, well, groovy. It didn't hurt that the male leads were Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer. It's nice to spend an afternoon that's easy on the eyes.
Straight Outta Compton was fantastic. The music, the story, the actors...everything was just perfect for this movie. I kept wondering how they found actors that looked so much like the members of NWA...especially Ice Cube. Turned out, that was his son. Makes sense. They did a really great job on this movie.
Books:
In August (and one day of September, so slight cheating), I read the following: Barbara the Slut and Other People by Lauren Holmes; The Marriage of Opposites: A Novel by Alice Hoffman; Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner; Uprooted by Naomi Novik; Coreyography: A Memoir by Corey Feldman; and The Taming of the Queen by Philippa Gregory.
Barbara the Slut and Other People is a grouping of short stories by Lauren Holmes. They were good stories, but by far, my favorite was the one told from the dog's point of view from its adoption by a couple through the demise of the relationship and the dog's triumph in having things just as it wanted. Hilarious.
The Marriage of Opposites is loosely based on the story of the mother of Camille Pissaro (the first painter of impressionism). She grew up in St. Thomas in the 1800s and the story chronicles her life and scandal and follows young Camille as he escapes to Paris and returns to try and help the family and then continues to be different from them. I can see why this story caught Hoffman's interest. It's definitely got a lot of heart and adventure. It was a very engaging read.
Who Do You Love was another good book from Weiner. Two kids meet at the hospital and their lives continue to intertwine from then on. As teens, they meet again on a school trip. They begin to date and continue to do so through college, despite their differences. Success comes and go for both...as does the meaning of success to each of them. As they adult in their own ways, they begin to realize that they may have had it right the first time.
Uprooted is a new type of fairy tale. The dragon (a wizard) takes a girl from the local village to live with him for ten years...the girl, not the one everyone expected to be taken, has powers and he trains her to be a witch. The woods are evil and begin to encroach on the small towns and infect people. Between the wizard, the witch, and others in the kingdom, they must drive back the darkness to save their lives and homes. This was a very good book.
And now for the fluff of the summer: Coreyography. This was highly entertaining if you've ever seen anything Feldman has been in. I ended up being very happy that he was able to save himself from the destructive path he and others kept him on for so long. He talks about the Goonies and Lost Boys extensively...if you like anything he's been in, you should probably read this.
A new Philippa Gregory? Yes please! This one was about Katherine (Kateryn) Parr...the last wife of Henry VIII. My knowledge of her is limited, but I knew enough to want to see Gregory's take on her. She made her out to be kind of a proud and clueless intellectual who survived by finally getting some street smarts. I don't know that I can truly say I liked it, but I do like reading these types of books, so I don't feel like it was time badly spent or anything. I just don't think I came out really liking Kateryn Parr all that much. She just seemed a little full of herself...not on the Boleyn level, but still. Not bad, but not the best from Gregory.
OK. Finally caught up from all the summer reading and movie seeing. It needs to be fall ASAP!
Saturday, September 5, 2015
The books of July 2015
Another movie filled month with slightly more reading than the month before!
Movies:
Magic Mike XXL was a funnier movie than the first. But then, it wasn't trying to cover the economic and housing issues while telling a stripper story. This one is more of a buddy reunion film with strippers. And I'm not sure if they did it wrong or not, but I left not wanting to see strippers, but wanting to learn those dance moves.
Minions was adorable! I need to be Scarlett Overkill for Halloween some year. Loved this!
Ant-Man was really, really funny. Probably more funny than people expect a superhero movie to be, but you can't put Paul Rudd in a movie and not experience that level of awesome. I mean, it's Paul Rudd. He's just great. The tie ins to the Marvel universe were pretty sweet. I'm excited for more.
Mr. Holmes was not an exciting film. It was a slow moving story of what could've happened to the greatest crime solving mind of a generation as his mind began to fail him with age. It was sad and thoughtful and very touching. A definitely rainy day afternoon type of thing.
Pixels is not good. That said, it's a great Adam Sandler movie. I'm a sucker for that...and for the 80s...and specifically 80s video games and music. I was extremely entertained the whole time. Spoiler: while the premise of the movie is hard to believe, I found it more believable than the thought that Kevin James would be president AND married to Jane Krakowski.
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation was very fun. It was definitely a great action film. As much as I dislike Tom Cruise, I will continue to see him in things like this (especially if Simon Pegg is involved) because he really does know how to do these types of movies right. (But seriously Tom, quit running like that...you know what I mean.)
Books:
In July, I guess I had a little more reading time...probably because of vacation. I read: The Rival Queens: Catherine de'Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal that Ignited a Kingdom by Nancy Goldstone; The Woman Who Stole My Life by Marian Keyes; Shoot Don't Shoot by JA Jance; Younger by Pamela Redmond Satran; Gideon's Corpse by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child; I Regret Nothing by Jen Lancaster; and Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee.
I took a chance on The Rival Queens because I like history and I like that horrible, teen-angsty show called Reign on the CW. I still like the show and I have a slightly better understanding of the history of that particular time. However, I think I like the TV show better. It so overly fictionalized that they've basically rewritten history as a crazy soap opera. The real thing was more of a downer for the characters.
I never tire of Marian Keyes. The Woman Who Stole My Life is about a married woman who slips into a paralyzing illness and her recovery and return to the world. She becomes famous for a book that her doctor wrote of their conversations (made through blinking) and travels supporting the book. She falls for the doctor; her ex-husband, trying to grab his own fifteen minutes of fame decides to give away all the things; her best friend takes her life from her...much in the same way her ex claims she did to him. A comedy of errors, with a side of serious feels. Every book of hers is just a joy to read.
Shoot Don't Shoot was a book on the shelf at the house we stayed while on vacation. It was a formulaic thriller...not particularly entertaining, but until I could get to the bookstore, it was all I had. I did finish it...so there was something to it besides my own stubborn attitude towards it.
Younger is a short read about a divorced woman in her 40s who looks much younger and restarts her career and love life, letting people assume she is much younger. There is also a TV show of this...I think on TV Land or something? It was cute. A little predictable, but cute.
Gideon's Corpse was the second Gideon Crew book (I'd already read the first and third ones). This time Gideon and the team have ten days to find and disarm a nuclear bomb in the US. A good thriller...not as good as the third one which included completely implausible realities and was, therefore, more my speed. All three of these were pretty good though. You don't really want to put them down.
I Regret Nothing is another Jen Lancaster book about her life. As usual, it was hilarious and made me want to be friends with her all over again. She talked about getting her feels together and finally making changes in her lifestyle and starting a whole new side business. And of course, she talked about the dogs and cats that are truly her and her husband's overlords. Hilarious. Read it.
Go Set A Watchman has gotten a lot of flack. After reading it, I'm not totally sure why. It's kind of like dinging JK Rowling for writing something that it's Harry Potter. Scout can't stay young and idealistic forever. She has to grow up. Family dynamics change with time. The only true constant is history. And that's where I felt Lee stayed true...and where people got mad. We were not there and we can not always be certain of people's thoughts and actions once out of the public eye. I felt this story was a very believable follow up. It took some of the heroism away from original characters, but that's to be expected sometimes. It was a slow read, but, I felt, a good one. Was it To Kill A Mockingbird good? No, but still good in its own way.
All right...that was it for July. On to August...
Movies:
Magic Mike XXL was a funnier movie than the first. But then, it wasn't trying to cover the economic and housing issues while telling a stripper story. This one is more of a buddy reunion film with strippers. And I'm not sure if they did it wrong or not, but I left not wanting to see strippers, but wanting to learn those dance moves.
Minions was adorable! I need to be Scarlett Overkill for Halloween some year. Loved this!
Ant-Man was really, really funny. Probably more funny than people expect a superhero movie to be, but you can't put Paul Rudd in a movie and not experience that level of awesome. I mean, it's Paul Rudd. He's just great. The tie ins to the Marvel universe were pretty sweet. I'm excited for more.
Mr. Holmes was not an exciting film. It was a slow moving story of what could've happened to the greatest crime solving mind of a generation as his mind began to fail him with age. It was sad and thoughtful and very touching. A definitely rainy day afternoon type of thing.
Pixels is not good. That said, it's a great Adam Sandler movie. I'm a sucker for that...and for the 80s...and specifically 80s video games and music. I was extremely entertained the whole time. Spoiler: while the premise of the movie is hard to believe, I found it more believable than the thought that Kevin James would be president AND married to Jane Krakowski.
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation was very fun. It was definitely a great action film. As much as I dislike Tom Cruise, I will continue to see him in things like this (especially if Simon Pegg is involved) because he really does know how to do these types of movies right. (But seriously Tom, quit running like that...you know what I mean.)
Books:
In July, I guess I had a little more reading time...probably because of vacation. I read: The Rival Queens: Catherine de'Medici, Her Daughter Marguerite de Valois, and the Betrayal that Ignited a Kingdom by Nancy Goldstone; The Woman Who Stole My Life by Marian Keyes; Shoot Don't Shoot by JA Jance; Younger by Pamela Redmond Satran; Gideon's Corpse by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child; I Regret Nothing by Jen Lancaster; and Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee.
I took a chance on The Rival Queens because I like history and I like that horrible, teen-angsty show called Reign on the CW. I still like the show and I have a slightly better understanding of the history of that particular time. However, I think I like the TV show better. It so overly fictionalized that they've basically rewritten history as a crazy soap opera. The real thing was more of a downer for the characters.
I never tire of Marian Keyes. The Woman Who Stole My Life is about a married woman who slips into a paralyzing illness and her recovery and return to the world. She becomes famous for a book that her doctor wrote of their conversations (made through blinking) and travels supporting the book. She falls for the doctor; her ex-husband, trying to grab his own fifteen minutes of fame decides to give away all the things; her best friend takes her life from her...much in the same way her ex claims she did to him. A comedy of errors, with a side of serious feels. Every book of hers is just a joy to read.
Shoot Don't Shoot was a book on the shelf at the house we stayed while on vacation. It was a formulaic thriller...not particularly entertaining, but until I could get to the bookstore, it was all I had. I did finish it...so there was something to it besides my own stubborn attitude towards it.
Younger is a short read about a divorced woman in her 40s who looks much younger and restarts her career and love life, letting people assume she is much younger. There is also a TV show of this...I think on TV Land or something? It was cute. A little predictable, but cute.
Gideon's Corpse was the second Gideon Crew book (I'd already read the first and third ones). This time Gideon and the team have ten days to find and disarm a nuclear bomb in the US. A good thriller...not as good as the third one which included completely implausible realities and was, therefore, more my speed. All three of these were pretty good though. You don't really want to put them down.
I Regret Nothing is another Jen Lancaster book about her life. As usual, it was hilarious and made me want to be friends with her all over again. She talked about getting her feels together and finally making changes in her lifestyle and starting a whole new side business. And of course, she talked about the dogs and cats that are truly her and her husband's overlords. Hilarious. Read it.
Go Set A Watchman has gotten a lot of flack. After reading it, I'm not totally sure why. It's kind of like dinging JK Rowling for writing something that it's Harry Potter. Scout can't stay young and idealistic forever. She has to grow up. Family dynamics change with time. The only true constant is history. And that's where I felt Lee stayed true...and where people got mad. We were not there and we can not always be certain of people's thoughts and actions once out of the public eye. I felt this story was a very believable follow up. It took some of the heroism away from original characters, but that's to be expected sometimes. It was a slow read, but, I felt, a good one. Was it To Kill A Mockingbird good? No, but still good in its own way.
All right...that was it for July. On to August...
The books of June 2015
Yikes! So far behind! I will be, hopefully, cranking out three posts today. This one is for June.
Movies:
In June, I saw a lot of movies. A lot. More than I thought I would.
Spy, with Melissa McCarthy was really funny. Jason Statham was perfect. And Rose McGowan as the baddie was a great idea.
Pitch Perfect 2 made me pretty happy. It's not as good as the first one, but it still was a good way to spend an afternoon. The riff off section of this one is hilarious.
Full disclosure: I thought Jurassic Park was only ok. And the two sequels, well, I don't really even remember them except that I think the people changed? Sharks...they were jumped. However, Jurassic World? Freaking fantastic. I really loved this one.
Mad Max: Fury Road was the surprise of June. This movie was insane and I loved every second of it. I used to love the original ones, but this was a definite improvement and update given the times and technological advances since the original trio. I hope they make more. (Tom Hardy has a nice pair of lips, if that adds to your incentive to see this.)
Inside Out is a Pixar movie. It hits you in the feels more often than expected. It's very sweet and I think a useful movie for explaining emotions to kids.
Ted 2 was probably the least liked of all these, and I still laughed almost the entire time. I'm fairly certain that Seth McFarlane came up with the joke about Amanda Seyfried while making A Million Ways to Die in the West and realized he had to make another movie with her in it to use it. So that, plus Puddy from Seinfeld and Wharf from Star Trek Next Generation made this movie very enjoyable.
Books:
Apparently I spent all my time at the theater because I only read four books in June: The Italians by John Hooper, The Woodcutter by Kate Danley, The Crown of Ptolemy by Rick Riordan, and The Family by Mario Puzo.
The Italians is kind of a social history of the Italian people, tracing the fighting and politics that eventually formed the nation and noting how everything shaped the current culture. It was an interesting read, but not overly engrossing.
The Woodcutter is a fairy tale type book. The woodcutter, a job passed from generation to generation, is a man who helps keep the fairy tales progressing in the manner we've come to expect. He keeps the darkness from taking over each story. This was a pretty good read if you like new takes on fairy tales (and I do).
The Crown of Ptolemy is another short story cross-over between the Kanes and the Greek demigods. The crazy Egyptian magician is back up to his tricks and trying to get the crown so he can take control. The demigods team up with the Kanes to stop that from happening. We meet some new Egyptian characters in this adventure. Really, I think it was just a way to keep us fans mollified until the new Norse mythology series starts this fall.
The Family is Mario Puzo's take on the Borgias. Highly fictionalized and accepting rumor as fact, there were parts of this that definitely bothered me. Which is unfortunate because this could've been really good. But, to be fair, (I can't remember exactly since it's been two months) I don't think Puzo completed this one before his death, so whoever edited/finished this could be why I didn't like it.
That was it for June. It rained pretty much the entire month...that much I definitely remember.
Movies:
In June, I saw a lot of movies. A lot. More than I thought I would.
Spy, with Melissa McCarthy was really funny. Jason Statham was perfect. And Rose McGowan as the baddie was a great idea.
Pitch Perfect 2 made me pretty happy. It's not as good as the first one, but it still was a good way to spend an afternoon. The riff off section of this one is hilarious.
Full disclosure: I thought Jurassic Park was only ok. And the two sequels, well, I don't really even remember them except that I think the people changed? Sharks...they were jumped. However, Jurassic World? Freaking fantastic. I really loved this one.
Mad Max: Fury Road was the surprise of June. This movie was insane and I loved every second of it. I used to love the original ones, but this was a definite improvement and update given the times and technological advances since the original trio. I hope they make more. (Tom Hardy has a nice pair of lips, if that adds to your incentive to see this.)
Inside Out is a Pixar movie. It hits you in the feels more often than expected. It's very sweet and I think a useful movie for explaining emotions to kids.
Ted 2 was probably the least liked of all these, and I still laughed almost the entire time. I'm fairly certain that Seth McFarlane came up with the joke about Amanda Seyfried while making A Million Ways to Die in the West and realized he had to make another movie with her in it to use it. So that, plus Puddy from Seinfeld and Wharf from Star Trek Next Generation made this movie very enjoyable.
Books:
Apparently I spent all my time at the theater because I only read four books in June: The Italians by John Hooper, The Woodcutter by Kate Danley, The Crown of Ptolemy by Rick Riordan, and The Family by Mario Puzo.
The Italians is kind of a social history of the Italian people, tracing the fighting and politics that eventually formed the nation and noting how everything shaped the current culture. It was an interesting read, but not overly engrossing.
The Woodcutter is a fairy tale type book. The woodcutter, a job passed from generation to generation, is a man who helps keep the fairy tales progressing in the manner we've come to expect. He keeps the darkness from taking over each story. This was a pretty good read if you like new takes on fairy tales (and I do).
The Crown of Ptolemy is another short story cross-over between the Kanes and the Greek demigods. The crazy Egyptian magician is back up to his tricks and trying to get the crown so he can take control. The demigods team up with the Kanes to stop that from happening. We meet some new Egyptian characters in this adventure. Really, I think it was just a way to keep us fans mollified until the new Norse mythology series starts this fall.
The Family is Mario Puzo's take on the Borgias. Highly fictionalized and accepting rumor as fact, there were parts of this that definitely bothered me. Which is unfortunate because this could've been really good. But, to be fair, (I can't remember exactly since it's been two months) I don't think Puzo completed this one before his death, so whoever edited/finished this could be why I didn't like it.
That was it for June. It rained pretty much the entire month...that much I definitely remember.
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