Adultery—-it’s painful stuff. It’s one thing to be the adulterer. It’s another thing to be the other person. It’s something else—and I say much greater—to be the one cheated on, the one who accepts or turns a blind eye or even who is blindsided. But imagine the teen or preteen child of the married couple…
I’ve never read David Foster Wallace’s work (yet), but you needn’t have in order to dive deep into the new movie about his interview by Rolling Stone’s David Lipsky, who spent several days with the author while Wallace wrapped up his book tour on the heels of publishing Infinite Jest in 1996. After Wallace’s suicide…
What an interesting, engaging film Tangerine is. Occurring all in the course of a day, Christmas Eve, the movie follows Sin-Dee, a transgender prostitute just released from four weeks in jail, as she tries to find her boyfriend/pimp and confront him for cheating on her while she was in jail. To sum up the movie…
Sunk deeply into an overstuffed sofa, snuggling under a cozy blanket in front of a warm fire in the fireplace, cold rain falling outside, but inside, holding a mug of tea or cocoa between your hands, and your favorite pet leaning on your leg. That’s how watching I’ll See You in My Dreams was. Gentle.…
I think I visibly jumped (and grabbed my movie companion) at least three times while watching The Gift, so I’m comfortable in saying that as a suspenseful movie, it did its job. And it entertained. For a couple of hours on a rainy Sunday summer afternoon, I immersed myself in the story of this midlife…
“I feel like I ambushed you,” said my vegetarian movie companion at the end of watching Unity. But I didn’t feel that way. Sure, the movie uses over-the-top images to promote against cruel treatment of animals (which I too am against), but as the writer and director noted during the Q&A after the film (the…
I was tickled to see another performance by Jacksonville’s local Five and Dime Theater Company, and as expected, they did not disappoint. First, the play: Clybourne Park is a powerful commentary on the changing face of urban neighborhoods—-tracing the “white flight” to suburbs and the subsequent gentrification of those original locales. The play, set in…
My timing in seeing films sometimes causes wonder in me. Watching the painfully self-destructive, fatal behavior of an addict on the screen rips at my heart. Seeing the vacant stare that hides the apparent hurt and pain behind those eyes brings such sadness. These are the things that rang out to me in watching Amy, the…
I love that spark of excitement that happens when, with fall on the horizon, I see that first grand performance of the movie year. That happened with Ian McKellan’s performance in Mr. Holmes. The film is indeed about that Mr. Holmes, as in Sherlock. But I didn’t go because I’m a fan of that literature. And…
I enjoyed this film—for what it was and for what it did not do. Sure, it could have been deeper. It could have been darker. But even the title indicated it wasn’t trying to do those things. And it was nice to see a country through a different lens than the one permanently smudged and…
Trainwreck is fun and funny and, most importantly, although formulaic, refreshingly unconventional. Directed by Judd Apatow, the same who directed Bridesmaids and The 40 Year-Old Virgin, the movie brings the raunchy side of humor, but at the same time, it’s sweet. There are elements in the film that touched me (but no, this would not…
What a delightfully charming movie! Inside Out explores how our emotions help guide—and misguide—us as they take the controls inside of eleven-year-old Riley’s mind while she navigates growing out of childhood to an age and time when emotions become more layered, more affected, and more unpredictably complex. Her tale is built around her difficulties of…
Funny Girl was a joy to read. Light. Easy. Funny. And different. Set in the 60s, the novel follows the early career path of a young lady in England who wants an acting career—in comedy. Lucille Ball is her hero. Television is her goal. So the subject matter being an unknown (and inexperienced) actress pursuing…
I remarked after finishing Revival this may be my least favorite Stephen King novel. On further reflection, I’m sure that it is. It’s not that this is a bad novel. It’s not. And it’s not that there isn’t something keenly Kingesque involved. There is. But for me, the story drug on with only a promise…
Over the course of reading this book, I described it a few different ways. Initially, it felt disjointed and too jumpy. Then I settled into the rhythm. I began to learn the characters and their relations. And I started to read the stories of Teddy’s life—-those disorganized, jumping around, no respect to chronology stories—-I started…