Category: books

Confession time: Usually after reading a book, I review it immediately, but I had a hard time reviewing The Time Traveler’s Wife because I couldn’t figure out then (I read it last year I think) whether I liked it or not. I couldn’t match my friends’ crazy worship of the book, and I thought it might be necessary to do a bit of reevaluation.

I admire it, that’s for sure. It’s a very well-constructed story, and the language is gorgeous. However, the narrative style felt inconsistent to me. Inconsistent in the way that at times Henry sounds like Clare (the book is divided into segments, with two perspectives – Clare’s and Henry’s). There is an entire block of description about a dance that did nothing to me. At that point where Henry tells Clare about how his mother died, I cringed. Not because it is gruesome, but because it is too gruesome to be believed. My reaction was not, How awful; it was Oh really? It did not help me some that the melodrama reaches a high at that point in the book. Drama, yes. Melodrama, no. Gomez and his wife are interesting characters, but their communist posturing gets old after several chapters.

Just my opinion. I only read the book once, so perhaps I may have to read it again. Don’t shoot me.

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Photo from scifiwire.com

Bottom line is, it’s a damn good premise. Good enough for a film? Why of course. The film itself has high production values, everything looks pretty. Rachel McAdams has a lovely smile, and Ron Livingston is a joy to watch. (Not too much of an Eric Bana fan, haha.)

It can, however, use more pauses, more silences. And with a running time of only 108 minutes, it can actually use another hour.

Most effective scene for me: When Henry meets his mother on the subway. Heartbreaking.

First, second, third, fourth

Public Enemies

Ah, the 1930’s. The curly hair, the cigarette smoke, the jazz singer, the slow dance, the red, red lips. The outlaw, the girl that has to be got, the agent of the law. The stuff film noir is made of. The 1930’s meant all these things, and also the Great Depression, economic poverty so awful it actually required a name in uppercase. But in the cinema we don’t smell the dirty clothes, the stale breath, we don’t feel the heat. So even here, the Great Depression is beautiful. How cool John Dillinger and the rest of his men look in trenchcoats, with those hats, how stylish, how slick. This is not the History of John Dillinger; in the film, we learn nothing more than what he tells Billie. My father beat me up when I was a kid, and I’m into you. The film is about the chase, and the power of Dillinger’s mere presence. And why learn about his past? Why care? Dillinger says It’s not about where we came from, it’s where we’re going. The lines in the film are very calculated, very Hollywood. You’re toast, etc. Much like Clark Gable’s lines in Manhattan Melodrama, the last film Dillinger sees before he is shot to death. He’s living in a film, the people outside the police car shouting at him are fans, and so he waves. He has the right to say It’s not about where we came from, it’s where we’re going, and not be called cheesy.

G.I. Joe

What the world needs now is another film based on Hasbro toys. So sayeth Hollywood and here we are. I watched it just two days ago and I can’t recall much of anything, except Hot brunette Sienna Miller is hot. It’s okay, the special FX in some of the earlier scenes made me cringe (I mean seriously, can’t the producers spend more money?), but it’s, erm, well it’s an action film featuring the military, so it’s loud and it’s nuts. I thought the chase in Paris was fun.

It’s bearable. More bearable than the craptastic Transfomers 2, but far less fun than, let’s say, Star Trek, or even the first Transformers.

Channing Tatum can’t act. Watching his facial expressions not change is painful. Sienna Miller is so hot it’s painful.

Who Stole the Funny? by Robby Benson

Benson has directed episodes of shows like Ellen and Friends, so he knows his stuff. In this novel, he writes about director J.T. Baker, who has a son in need of a kidney transplant. Baker, who has moved away from Hollywood to teach and has vowed never to enter a soundstage again, is called forth to guest-direct the hit show My Urban Buddies (which is Friends, only on liquid Vicodin). If he succeeds in directing three episodes, he gets to renew his Directors’ Guild insurance and pay for whatever medical procedure his son needs. Who Stole the Funny? tells the story of a single week on and off the set of the Buddies show. On almost every page is a box, a word, and a definition for that word, in case you don’t speak Hollywood. For example, Baker is believed to be a passionate director.

The Passionate: Troublemakers. Loose cannons. Delusional shmucks who believe they can elevate the quality of the show. Passion in television is bad – very bad!

I had fun reading it. I’d like to see it on the big screen.

I swear, they’re following me. Usually it’s the other way around.

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Trinoma. July 31. I went straight to Fully Booked because I was meaning to buy either Little Brother or House of Leaves. Both were not available, so I finally picked up a (cheaper) copy of French’s The Likeness.

Powerbooks. I entered the store just for the heck of it. (Normally I try to avoid entering another bookstore after a purchase; budget budget budget.) The word budget flew out the window. It’s a sale! There were two tables full of books at 80 % off!

I got:

Who Stole The Funny? P105 (orig. P500+)

The Society of Others P79 (orig P400?)

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August 1. At Market! Market! with Eula. It took us perhaps half an hour before we realized that it was National Book Store that was having this utterly ridiculous sale. Ridiculous, I tell you. I was able to grab a book that went for P5. Even the cashier looked stunned.

I also got my first DeLillo book whee. :D

dot.bomb P5 (this looks like a P400+ kind of book)

Falling Man P35 (P500+?)

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Enough. Broke. Way too many unread books already. Enough.

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Oh, we peeked in at the Fully Booked Book Grab. Not during the actual contest, though. We saw the cordoned-off area, the books up er for grabs. I saw only one book worth grabbing: Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham. There were mostly travel books. No thanks.

(It’s highly possible that I’m just being bitter here.)

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Quick, Quick Movie Reviews

Ice Age 3 is fun, similar to those animated films that children today will enjoy, and which years later will probably make them go, Listen to all these sexual innuendos!

I saw it in 3D with my brother, and having done that I now have serious doubts about viewing anything in 3D. The whole time my eyes ached and I could only think sore eyes sore eyes sore eyes.

Wearing glasses inside a cinema felt like wearing a cap inside a church for me.

AND 3D’s expensive.

Meanwhile, I found Orphan surprisingly effective as a thriller. It’s entertaining. I enjoyed watching it. I won’t discourage anyone from watching it. ;)

And yes, Cyril, I won’t judge anyone’s film tastes ever again LOL.

(Nah. I probably still will.)

I didn’t know Peter Sarsgaard is in this film. He is love. <3

And did you see Leo DiCaprio’s name in the list of producers? Strange.