It had been some time since I read the book, Gone Girl. I talked briefly with a friend or two about it before seeing the movie, only then remembering the depths of the diabolic nature of the characters. Worried, as we often are when a great story from print is brought to cinema, I went…
I wanted to see The Drop as it was James Gandolfini’s last film. (I was utterly charmed by him in Enough Said, and I wanted to see this side of his acting, as I have yet to watch The Sopranos.) While Gandolfini was fine, I was wonderfully surprised by and captivated by Tom Hardy and…
Having been captivated by NOS4RA2 (2013), I looked forward to another story by Joe Hill (who will for many years be referred to, of course, as Stephen King’s son), so I picked Horns. Horns is an earlier work by a few years (2010); if I hadn’t known that already, I think I would have been…
Having started this book just before Christmas, it took some time to finish—me needing to give up reading-for-pleasure for a bit when I was barely a quarter way through. But somehow, that seemed right with this tale. The Goldfinch covers a span of time. And it does so patiently, endearingly, and with a strange tenderness…
I’m sandwiching my weekend with two foreign films; other than having seen both previews, this is all else I knew going in, from NPR: “Audiences are being offered an intriguing exercise in double vision over the next couple of weeks: two movies about Palestinian informants and their complicated relationships with Israel’s secret service, one directed…
What Robert Redford does with the expression on his face, the stare of his gaze, the slump of his shoulders – – – all work to demonstrate the true skill and craft that is acting. Whether he was perfectly suited for the role or the role for him, it is a match unlike most. I…
Courage. That’s the word that kept coming to mind as I watched Captain Phillips. But the *best* display of courage I saw was not in what Captain Phillips did. It was not in the crew. It was not in the team of SEALS. It was in the medic who treated the man who had been…
“Hello, Wendy. I’m home.” And so it felt to this Stephen King fan—coming home. So perhaps that was to a creepy, sinister home, but one, at the same time that was as familiar and comfortable as some old sheepskin slippers. It had been perhaps twenty (at *least* fifteen) years since I read some King. Having…
Wow. As The Imposter begins, it takes a bit of time watching to understand the depth of the ruse carried off by Frédéric Bourdin (called by some a “serial imposter”). I rented this movie months ago, it sitting in its Netflix envelope on my table for the longest time. And I had forgotten it was…
What a gifted writer! Ron Rash brings to life a compelling story in his novel “Serena.” It is unlike most of the novels I read, this being set in depression-era North Carolina. But its language paints so detailed and so colorful the setting that no matter the topic of the story, I am certain I…
The East is a wonderfully intriguing film that dives deep into ecoterrorism and the independent agencies working against such working behind the scenes—-and that exposes some of that which lives behind the curtain. Part way though, it’s hard to recall or commit to who’re the good guys and who you want to fall. And that…
Joe Hill—yes, he has a different last name, but no doubt he will for a long time be identified as Steven King’s son. And he does not disappoint. NOS4A2 is an excellent tale of suspense, horror, and imagination. It weaves stories together with a thread of “inscapes,” taking the reader down dark paths of darker…
The Dinner is an enjoyable read–written as events unfold over the course of a dinner between two couples at a fork in their road of life. It’s quite interesting, to be inside of someone’s thoughts over the course of a formal, if not pretentious, dinner—-the random asides and thoughts back as the events and conversations…
I hadn’t read a legal “mystery” in a while, so I looked forward to reading this that came recommended by…. some source I’ve since forgotten. The story is good enough—entertaining enough—- enough. But for some reason (admittedly perhaps because the protagonist reminds me too much of a police officer I know), this reads more as…
My first officiall 2013 film…. Side Effects. This movie twists and turns at such a rate that careful attention to all the details is a must, lest you miss the “how” or the “when” by the “who” of the “what.” What I thought going in based on the trailer was debunked. What I thought later…