Archive
Movie Review: Shortcut to Happiness (2004)
Summary:
Jabez Stone loves writing, and he wants to be a good writer, but he also wants to be a famous one. When his friend sells his manuscript for a lucrative sum, and Jabez follows this news up by having one of the worst days of his life, he tells the mirror that he’d sell his soul for that success. Of course the devil comes knocking in the form of a beautiful woman to cut that deal, but fame isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Review:
Even though they’re all rather obvious and quite predictable, I’ve always enjoyed “sells soul to devil” stories as a sort of movie comfort food. Yes, we all know what’s going to happen in the end, but the selling the soul part and the part immediately after when everything is going right are actually quite entertaining to watch. The thing is, these movies can easily go bad if they’re not careful. There’s fun cheesy, and then there’s eye-rolling cheesy. Unfortunately, this movie is one of the latter.
It features a fairly impressive cast–Alec Baldwin, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Dan Akroyd, and Kim Cattrall–yet they for the most part fail to deliver. Jennifer Love Hewitt clearly tries; it’s not her fault she was miscast. For some reason many of these movies persist in casting Barbie doll fake plastic type actresses in the role of the devil, when it’s obvious a classic femme fatale would be much more accurate. The devil should be glamorous, not fake. It’s much harder to see through glamor than fake bullshit. Dan Akroyd does a good job, but he is underutilized. As for Baldwin and Cattrall, I had no idea these two can’t actually act, but they can’t. Either that, or they can only act one type of role. Baldwin behaves in exactly the same manner here as he does in 30 Rock
In spite of the casting, the movie still could have been decent with a good script, which is why the first half of the movie is quite watchable. Unfortunately, it takes a serious nose-dive in the second half of the movie from interesting exploration of human behavior to….a court room trial? Held in a cemetery? With a jury consisting of people from Jabez’s past and famous authors such as Hemingway? What the fuck?! The whole entire court room scene, which seems to last forever, is from so far out of left field and so painfully boring that it really, truly ruins the movie. This is the classic example of how the ending can ruin an entire story. Seriously, don’t start out being all “yay NYC capers! Plus, the devil!” and then slam us with a court room scene more boring than Law and Order
That said, I still actually watched the whole movie. Granted, I was playing Angry Birds on my iTouch most of the time, but the fact remains I did finish it. So it is watchable, but it certainly is not high-quality viewing. If you have time to kill and are a fan of any of the actors I mentioned or are a fan of selling soul to the devil stories, you won’t hate it, but there are definitely better films out there to kill time with.
2 out of 5 stars
Source: Netflix
Buy It It appears not to have been released on DVD. Interesting.
Book Review: Crime Scene at Cardwell Ranch by B.J. Daniels
Summary:
Dana doesn’t want to sell the family ranch in Montana, but her siblings are insistent and without her mother’s new will, she doesn’t have a leg to stand on. The sale gets held up when a body is discovered in an old well on the ranch. A new marshal is brought in from out of town to investigate, and it’s none other than Hud, Dana’s ex-fiancee. Can they find the killer? Can Dana save the ranch from her greedy siblings? Will renewed love overcome old hurts?
Review:
This is a Harlequin romance novel, and they are not meant to be super-serious or make you ponder life. It’s light reading akin to viewing the hot summer blockbuster movie. So does it do its job?
The murder storyline is just complex enough to be compelling but not so complex that too much thinking is required, so plot-wise, Daniels does a good job. The characters are fairly well-rounded, and Daniels eloquently presents a true-to-life modern Montana and not the romanticized vision of the old west often seen in books. (My brother used to live in Montana, so I’m speaking from experience here). Hud and Dana are sigh-inducing as a couple, but are also still believable. Their love story could happen in real life, so that makes for an enjoyable read.
However, Harlequin romances are definitely supposed to be romance. I was expecting at least one good sex scene. What you get is a scene that, I kid you not, consists almost entirely of he kissed her breasts, there was passion, they went to sleep. I’ve seen better sex scenes in historical fiction that wasn’t even marketed as romance. Is this a Harlequin thing? Are they supposed to be that clean? I definitely remember them being a lot more hot and heavy when I was 15, but well, that was 9 years ago. In any case, this sex scene left much to be desired. Much.
The book also suffers from a lack of good editing. This definitely isn’t Daniels’ fault. Daniels makes mistakes most writers will make periodically in a book this long, but the editor failed to catch them. I’d say there are around five easily noticeable errors in the book. I find it easy enough to roll my eyes and continue on. If that sort of thing bothers you, though, you should be aware.
Overall, Daniels provides an intriguing modern day crime mystery set in rural Montana with a touch of romance and sex that happens off the page. If you like light, fairly clean genre fiction with a dash of intrigue, you will enjoy this book.
3 out of 5 stars
Source: Amazon
Book Review: God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater by Kurt Vonnegut
Summary:
A satire on free enterprise, money, and capitalism in America told by examining the fictional Rosewaters–an uber-wealthy American family whose ancestor acquired his wealth by essentially profiteering during the Civil War. The current Rosewater fights in WWII and returns with two crazy ideas. First, that everyone deserves to be equally happy. Second, that people who inherited wealth did nothing to deserve it. He responds to this conundrum of conscience by returning to his ancestor’s hometown and using the Rosewater Foundation to help the “useless poor.” In the meantime, a lawyer by the name of Mushari decides to attempt to prove that Mr. Rosewater is insane, and the foundation money should be handed off to his cousin, currently a suicidal, middle-class insurance man.
Review:
How to review Vonnegut? Upheld as the epitome of 20th century American writing. He is certainly prolific, and some of his books absolutely deserve the high praise (Slaughterhouse-Five
I think part of the problem stems from the fact that the first third of the book is focused on Eliot Rosewater, the next on his cousin, and the last on Eliot again. Just as I was getting into Eliot’s story, it switched to his cousin. Then when I was getting into his cousin’s story, it switched back to Eliot. To top it all off, the ending left me with little to no resolution on either one. Maybe Vonnegut’s point is that capitalism either makes you crazy or depressed with no way out? I’m not sure.
That’s not to say that this wasn’t a fun read, though. Vonnegut crafts the mid-western town Eliot lives in and the Rhodes Island seacoast town his cousin lives in with delicious detail. What is interesting about both are of course the people in the towns surrounding the main characters, and not the main characters themselves. In particular the Rhodes Island town is full of surprisingly well-rounded secondary characters from the cousin’s wife who’s experimenting in a lesbian relationship, to the local fisherman and his sons, to the local restaurant owner who is intensely fabulous (yes, the gay kind of fabulous. There’s quite a bit of LGBTQIA+ in this book). I was so interested in this town. This was a town that actually demonstrated the problems innate in some people having too much money while others don’t have enough. This was so much more interesting than Rosewater’s sojourn in Indiana. But then! Just when I was really getting into it and thinking this book might approach Slaughterhouse-Five
Much more interesting than the heavy-handed money message was the much more subtle one on the impact of war. Mr. Rosewater’s sanity issues go back to WWII. I won’t tell you what happened, because the reveal is quite powerful. Suffice to say, Vonnegut clearly understood the impact WWII had on an entire generation and clearly thought about the impact of war on humanity in general. In this way, this book is quite like Slaughterhouse-Five
Overall, if you’re a Vonnegut enthusiast, enjoy reading for setting and character studies, and don’t mind a message that’s a bit heavy-handed, you will enjoy this book. Folks just looking for a feel of what makes Vonnegut held in such high esteem should stick to Slaughterhouse-Five
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3.5 out of 5
Length: 190 pages – average but on the shorter side
Source: PaperBackSwap
Buy It (Amazon or Bookshop.org)
Reading Challenge: R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril
I love horror. Love love love it. I know a lot of readers don’t. They say it scares them too much or keeps them awake at night. The thing is, I used to be one of those readers! I used to avoid horror because when I was younger horror would absolutely petrify me for weeks on end. I’d think every squeak my old house would make was the boogey-man coming to get me. But then I decided, “Enough of this shit! I’m letting my fears get in the way of an entire genre.” So I dabbled my toes, then I jumped in, and now it’s one of my favorite genres. Horror lets me get lost in a world where it’s ok to be scared and supernatural things occur and I basically get to watch car crashes repeatedly. It’s awesome. The whole genre. I can’t believe how much I’d be missing if I’d continued to avoid it! For instance: Zombies. Tree porn. Everything Stephen King ever wrote. You get my point.
Anyway, so when I saw via Chris at Book-a-rama that Carl of Stainless Steel Droppings is hosting a mystery/suspense/thriller/dark fantasy/gothic/horror/supernatural reading challenge for the spooky fall months of September and October entitled R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril, I knew I wanted to sign up. Not that I won’t be reading horror for these two months anyway, but I thought if I signed up, it’d alert you guys to the challenge. Maybe one of my lovely readers is tentative about one of those genres? Well this is the perfect opportunity to stretch your boundaries! Plus you’ll be in the company of a lovely bunch of people for a couple months to do it.
Of course, that’s my other reason for participating. I want to virtually meet other book lovers who are reading horror!
Originally, in light of the fact that I try to keep my reading unstructured and fun, I was going to sign up for one of the lower levels of the challenge….then I saw how much of my TBR pile fits! Lol, so I’m signing up for the Peril the First level: read four books that fit into any of the genres I mentioned above.
My potential reads for the challenge (direct from my TBR pile) include:
- An Edgar Allan Poe collection whose name is escaping me at the moment
- The Lady in the Lake
by Raymond Chandler
- Thinner
by Stephen King
- The Dark Tower
by Stephen King
- The Vampire Lestat
by Anne Rice
- Hunt Beyond the Frozen Fire
by Gabriel Hunt
- His Father’s Son
by Bentley Little
- Fragment: A Novel
by Warren Fahy
- The Day of the Triffids
by John Wyndham
- The Devil You Know
by Mike Carey
I hope you’ll sign up and do the challenge with me! Especially if you’re afraid of horror. You can sign up for one of the lower levels and just dip your toe in. :-)
Any votes for which four out of my list I should read?
Movie Review: Kick-Ass (2010)
Summary:
Highschooler Dave wonders why no one in real life ever tried to be a super-hero, so he orders a wet suit, dubs himself “Kick-Ass” and sets out to attempt vigilante justice. Lucky for him in his ineptitude, someone has thought of being a a superhero–ex-cop Big Daddy and his 9 year old daughter Hit Girl. Their activities land them on the mob’s hit list, and pandemonium ensues.
Review:
This is a concept–blundering wannabe superheroes–that could easily fall flat on its face, but it doesn’t. The addition of Big Daddy and Hit Girl to the scene really change the entire feel of the movie. They’re not so much superheroes as vigilantes–think Kill Bill only with superhero costumes. They bring reality back into Kick-Ass’s daydreaming. In the real world, fighting the bad guys often have serious consequences. It’s not all youtube glory.
This was based on a graphic novel, and the bright colors in the costumes help bring that feel in. The fight sequences aren’t stylized like anime, rather they feel like a typical action movie, but that was a wise choice given the basic message in the movie. Shots are smooth and stylish without reading as cartoonish.
Apparently, some people find the character of Hit Girl offensive. This surprised me since she was by far my favorite in the film. Where I see her as possessing admirable grit, raw talent, and a propensity to speak her mind others see a little girl killing people and using the c-word. I think those people are taking things a bit too seriously. Hit Girl is clearly a little girl who enjoys what she does and is being true to herself. Little girls aren’t always sugar and spice and everything nice.
Overall, Kick-Ass is a fun movie that will appeal to fans of superhero and action films alike. I highly recommend it.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Netflix
Book Review: 600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster
Summary:
Edward likes facts and order, and his life revolves around them. Every morning when he gets up he records the weather in his town of Billings, Montana, as well as the time of his awakening. Every night at 10pm he watches a taped episode of Dragnet. He buys the same groceries every week on Tuesday and does his best to avoid left-hand turns when driving. Edward does not work. He has a hard time interacting with people. He can’t seem to understand them, and they have a hard time understanding him. But 600 hours of his life are about to happen and change everything, daring him to open back up to the world and give it a chance. Daring him to step outside of his comfort zone to make his life more than he ever dreamed it could be.
Review:
This is an extraordinary look into the mind of someone with Asperger’s syndrome. Asperger’s syndrome is an autism spectrum disorder that causes great difficulties in social interaction, odd language use, and repetitive behavior commonly compared to obsessive-compulsive disorder. In lieu of presenting us with an odd neighbor who we later discover has the illness, Lancaster brings us into the mind of the person with Asperger’s syndrome and shows us how the world looks to him. Edward finds the world to be a rather confusing, disorderly place. He can see when his behavior upsets people, but he doesn’t understand why. His attempts to make sense of the world via rituals are heart-wrenching to read. Yet the narrative also does an excellent job of demonstrating the good intentions of someone with Asperger’s who doesn’t realize his behavior is frightening or abnormal.
Edward’s life may be full of rituals, but it also is full of people–his parents, his therapist, his neighbors, his old high school workshop teacher. The commonality between them all is that they see the good in Edward and are willing to work with him and be patient in order to keep him in their lives. They see him for the good man struggling with an illness that he is. Of course, Edward is not left with a free ride. The people around him expect him to do what he can to function better from taking his Fluoxetine every day to faithfully attending his appointments with Dr. Buckley and pushing his own boundaries. It is a message of the hope that is possible when everyone involved works to overcome a mental illness.
There were two draw-backs to the book, however. One was that the repeated summaries of Dragnet episodes every chapter were quite dull. I think after a couple, the reader would still have gotten the point of ritual by saying “then I watched Dragnet” without actually summarizing the episodes. It was a lot of narrative space taken up to make a point that was already made with the much shorter recording of the weather and waking times every morning. This is minor and easily skimmed over though. My other issue is actually that I think the book ended too soon. I think the point at which it ended was chosen for some sense of supposed literary quality rather than telling the whole story. I would like to have seen at least a bit more of Edward’s transformation. It felt a bit short-lived.
Overall this book helped me understand people with Asperger’s syndrome better than I ever had before. I highly recommend it to fans of contemporary fiction, fans of memoirs as it reads like one, and people seeking to understand Asperger’s syndrome better.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: free copy from the author via the LibraryThing Member Giveaway program
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