January turned out to have a Country/Southern theme going for it, kicked off by Country Strong and The Help. Once I noticed things going that way, I kept up the trend with some of my Netflix and reading selections.
Stuck On Repeat
"Firework (Fred Falke Club Remix)" -- Katy Perry
"Airplanes" -- B.o.B feat. Hayley Williams
"Silver Wings" -- Garrett Hedlund or Jimmy Buffett (my apologies to Merle Haggard)
"Alive" -- Goldfrapp
"Take Me Over" -- Cut Copy
"The Night" -- Ali Love
"Pink Cloud" -- Sam Sparro (free EP here)
"You and I" -- Dennis Wilson
Cinema
Blue Valentine - strong character study, but uneven chemistry between the stars
Country Strong - don't think about this movie too much because the relationships don't make sense and there are plot holes galore, but the music is great. Gwyneth, I can recommend some good mascara that won't run. Garrett Hedlund, did you aim to be the Ben Taylor of country music? If so, you succeeded. Also, I wish I had seen this in a cinema with real country music fans, because the "Friends in Low Places" scene DEMANDS a live sing-along, but did not get one, except for my singing along very very quietly.
Another Year - really terrific acting, which makes the film much more interesting than its "plot" gives it any right to be. Also, reminded me of all the trouble caused by English people's being overly polite and constantly drinking wine.
The Green Hornet - Seth Rogen approaches Jonah Hill levels of annoyingness many times, but Jay Chou and his gadgets were smooth and cool enough to (over)compensate and save the day. Christoph Waltz didn't hurt either, and overall this film is good, silly, clever fun.
The Way Back - engaging, compelling journey story with gorgeous scenery, well composed and well executed score, and nuanced performances. There is nothing all that "new" about this film, but it held my attention and is a solid addition to its genre.
The Tourist - Angelina Jolie ties with Cher in Burlesque for best eye-makeup of the 2010 holiday movie season. I can't believe this is how the director follows up The Lives of Others, which is an absolutely brilliant and unforgettable film. The Tourist, on the other hand, is quite generic and forgettable. I can think of worse ways to spend a couple of hours, since this film is pretty to look at, offering up gorgeous scenery and couture at every turn. However, apart from this icing as shiny as the diamond choker Angie wears to the ball, the film doesn't have much to offer than hollow performances and a twist that barely passes as clever.
Biutiful - what is it with creepy people in mirrors recently (see also: Black Swan, The Eclipse)? One of the reasons I don't go to horror movies is to avoid creepy people in mirrors, yet all of a sudden, here they are popping up in Oscar bait. Sheesh. Other than that, this film was okay. Javier Bardem is like the Spanish Russell Crowe - he's a good actor so I go see his films, but there is just something I don't like about him most of the time. Having been to Barcelona, it was interesting to see a side of the city I would never encounter in real life. However, the film was overly long and the repetitiveness of the ending didn't help with my just wanting the credits to roll.
Netflix Queue
A Perfect Getaway
Rock Star
The Witches of Eastwick
The Eclipse
Honkytonk Man
Gattaca
The Last Detail
Brazil
American Outlaws
A Time To Kill
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole
Amature Gourmet
Black-eyed peas with ham
Drop biscuits
Saxe-Coburg (aka Brussels sprout & potato) soup
Lime oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (vegan)
Tofu & veggie stir-fry with soba noodles
Gumbo
Book Shelf
The Help, Kathryn Stockett
A great, highly enjoyable read. Stockett has created a rich cast of characters who are very interesting and drew me in quickly. Also, the story has a very strong sense of place. I didn't grow up in the south, but my mother did, and she confirmed that this book gives a pretty good idea of how things really were back then. The book certainly has a few shortcomings, as to be expected from a first novel, but on the whole, the richness of the storytelling makes up for the mostly technical faults.
The Devil's Company, David Liss
This was given to me for Christmas by one of my colleagues, since I am a known Anglophile. It took me a little while to get into the story, but once I did I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It has a bit of a Sherlock Holmes Lite thing going on for it, but it is a fun twisty mystery, even if most of those twist come hard and heavy in the third act and aren't always fully explained, and some of the characters turn out to be double, triple, or possibly quadruple agents (I lost track). As a bonus, the narrator and protagonist is a Portugese Jew, which is a very unique voice for a story set in 18th century London. The book is good enough that I passed it on to my father as a beach read and I will seek to read the two books in the series that precede it.
Ford County, John Grisham
Continuing my country theme after that detour to Britain, Grisham delivers quality goods as always. I don't like his short stories as much as I like his books, but there were some tight character studies to be had here and there, as well as some thought-provoking little nuggets. Another good beach read, plus it's nice to see Grisham continue to branch out and try new themes and formats.
Final Encore, Scotty Cade
Disclaimer: this book is written by a good friend of mine. It is also a M/M romance novel. Since I haven't ever even read any hetero romance novels, I don't have much to which I can compare this. However, the characters are well developed and the story arc is well crafted. For a literary debut, it's decent stuff. Like Stockett's book, the writing has room to improve on a technical level in terms of flow, word choice, and detail, but the heart of the book is definitely in the right place.
Wise Blood/The Violent Bear It Away/Everything That Rises Must Converge, Flannery O'Connor
I used the Southern/Country momentum I had going this month to finally tackle this book, which I had tried to read in 2008, failing to make it past the first chapter at that time. Unlike all the other books I read this month, this one felt like work. I had to force myself to keep going to get through it. O'Connor's characters and settings are all twisted, bleak, nasty, depressing, and horrible, with a lot of religious fanaticism and death going on. After finishing the book, I even had a nightmare involving Natalie Portman and Ken Cosgrove from Mad Men that was a mash-up of O'Connor's focus on morality and death and Black Swan. By the time I got to the short stories in the third part of the book, I dreaded getting to the end of each story and finding out what terrible fate awaited the characters. Southern Gothic to the max, as if there is a hazy cloud covering the sun and a tornado just over the horizon, making the sky green-gray and filling the air with volatile tension, for every story in the book.
Post title from: "January" -- Elton John
No comments:
Post a Comment