Classics Considered

First, an apology/disclaimer... there WILL be classic literature reviews coming soon!!  I often watch movies/TV in batches, so this is one of those phases for me.  :) Spellbound (1945) Spellbound is a twisted tale of the romance between an ambitious young doctor (Ingrid Bergman) and her unlikely boss (Gregory Peck).  The two work as psychoanalysts in the same mental health facility, and in spite of the office gossip, Constance finds herself falling in love for the first time.  Anthony, on the other hand, begins to show signs of mental distress, haunted by fears he cannot remember nor explain.  When Anthony becomes implicated in a crime, Constance - terrified of losing him - decides to apply all her knowledge on mental health to try to discern the truth from his scattered memories. Laura (1944) Laura (Gene Tierney), a charismatic young businesswoman, is found dead in her apartment one morning, brutally shot in the face.  Detective Mark McPherso...

On Saturday, my brother and I went to see Ad Astra starring Brad Pitt.  This is a film that's been compared - by its director James Gray, no less - to Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (one of my axes ).  Being in the middle of a Conrad "renaissance" if you will, I felt it was perfect timing.  A couple of my coworkers had seen it already and liked it, so that was another reason I was interested in watching it. Pitt plays Roy McBride, a young astronaut whose impeccable career is overshadowed by memories of his absent father Clifford and the much-nearer loss of Eve, the devoted wife he sidelined for his career and who's recently left him.  After a series of devastating electrical surges sweep across the solar system, Roy is tasked by U.S. Space Command to investigate the situation, which they believe could be linked to his dad's scientific research on Neptune.  Roy sets out to confront Clifford, embarking on a journey through space that is every bit as p...

Time for some more bite-sized movie reviews...two 1953 classics, one costume drama, and one survival drama! Arctic (2019) Plot Mads Mikkelsen plays Overgård, the lone survivor of a plane wreck in the Arctic.  He spends his days in tedium, catching fish (which he eats raw) and sending out hand-cranked radio signals in hopes they'll get picked up. When the rescue team he has been waiting for finally arrives, their helicopter crashes, and he is left suddenly tending to another survivor, a young woman with terrible injuries.  Overgård resolves to set out on foot for the nearest outpost, to try to save both their lives. Thoughts The trailer pulled me in many months ago...later I discovered it on Prime , and I'm glad I finally saw it.  Polar exploration nerds will soak in the stunning cinematography, filmed in Iceland (no CGI snowcapes here!), plus the human drama surrounding Mikkelsen's character.  In spite of the plot's simplicity, there is plenty of suspen...

Recently I saw these two classic films for the first time: Vertigo (1958) and How to Steal a Million (1966).  On the surface, they have really nothing in common, so I thought it would be a fun challenge to compare and contrast them. Vertigo Vertigo is an Alfred Hitchcock film, considered by many reviewers to be his masterpiece.  James Stewart plays a retired detective, Scottie Ferguson, who is commissioned by his friend to follow said friend's wife Madeleine (Kim Novak) around San Francisco, to determine if she's become possessed with the spirit of her great-grandmother.  Matters become weirder when Scottie finds himself falling head over heels for the chilling but attractive Madeleine, who also seems to have a thing for him.  Scottie, unfortunately, suffers from vertigo and a fear of heights, which threaten to jeopardize his task and Madeleine's life. Let me just say I have mixed feelings about Hitchcock films.  This is how I'd rank the ones I've se...

A couple of months ago I mentioned I was looking forward to two Disney remakes this year, Aladdin and The Lion King . Well, my siblings and I just got back from Aladdin , and I was not disappointed!   It's funny, beautiful, moving, and action-packed.  Dare I say it??  I like it better than the cartoon original. It is also my favorite Disney remake so far, even more than Beauty and Beast , my previous favorite.   Aladdin stays true to its origin - a story of adventure, humor, and romance - and doesn't try to be more than a good, old-fashioned kid's movie.  (Yes, Jasmine has her own song and subplot, but it fits her character arc and doesn't seem incongruous.) So if you have any reservations, I say give it try, you may be pleasantly surprised!

This past weekend, I rewatched the WWII movie Valkyrie (2008) with my brother.  (He, like me, is a history nerd and was the one who talked me into watching Lawrence of Arabia , for which I'm perpetually grateful.)  I don't believe I reviewed Valkyrie last time, so it seemed like a good time to talk about it and about history-themed movies in general. Tom Cruise plays Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a Nazi officer, family man, and Catholic, who is tormented by his conscience and the events of the war.  In 1943, he joins a number of collaborators planning a political-military coup, which ultimately involves a plan to assassinate Hitler.  The genius of the plot is that it uses Hitler's own backup plan, "Operation Valkyrie," against him by feigning an emergency.  The movie zooms in on July 20, 1944, when Stauffenberg and his fellow officers attempt to carry out the assassination and coup. The first thing to get out of the way is the casting.  Now, don't...

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. The cautionary cliche, while well known, still remains almost limitless in its potential for the mystery and thrillers genres.  Perhaps this is why watching My Name is Julia Ross (1945) immediately calls to mind its literary precursors from the works of Arthur Conan Doyle and Daphne du Maurier. The opening, in fact, takes a page out of Doyle's "The Adventure of the Copper Beeches," only this time set in the 1940s.  Londoner Julia Ross is a beautiful young woman, recently unemployed and completely alone in the world.  Her only friend and would-be boyfriend, Dennis Bruce, has just announced his marriage to someone else.  Depressed, and at a loss for how to pay the bills, Julia responds to an ad seeking a secretary for a wealthy Mrs. Hughes.  Mrs. Hughes makes Julia a generous offer, on the condition that Julia come to live with her at her mansion in Cornwall.  When Julia wakes up the next day, she rea...

It's snowing heartily again, on top of the 2-4 inches from earlier this week that didn't fully melt.  So I came home early and am looking forward to a weekend "snowed in" - which means reading!

Mary Poppins Returns (2018) One day, Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) shows up at the door of Michael Banks, who is now grown up and a widower with three small children.  He still lives at 17 Cherry Tree Lane, London, and is scrambling to make his next house payment before the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank boots them out.  Mary Poppins steps in to take care of the kids, leading them on an unexpected adventure through magical lands, London streets, and even the Bank itself, as they endeavor to help their dad find a way to keep the house.

Ah, January.  I always find this month to be dreary.  (Anything coming after a glorious Christmas break is bound to be dreary). My reading, as you might expect, has been somewhat sporadic and diverse, as I'm trying to escape the doldrums.  I don't have full reviews yet, just a scattering of thoughts...

Reading Something not immediately evident from this blog is that I'm a recent "fan" (for lack of a more precise word) of Soren Kierkegaard 's writings.  His book Works of Love changed my life in 2016, but being so profound in topic, it was not a book I felt comfortable writing a review on.  I did review Fear and Trembling , though once again, not delving too deeply as I felt myself inadequate of completely analyzing it.  I approach philosophy as outsider, not from the "ground up," so many cross-references are a bit lost on me.  However, there's something addictive about Kierkegaard in particular that makes the struggle worthwhile.  It's like listening to the ramblings of a friend who would be incredibly obnoxious if he weren't so incredibly brilliant, even obviously to outsiders like me.    The Concept of Anxiety has sat on my bookshelf for a while.  Right now I'm going through a great deal of anxiety (though not the worst I've ...

So, I'm not much of a movie watcher these days, much less a reviewer .  But I've started keeping a journal of books read and movies watched, by month.  (Got this idea from Rachel !)  This month's been particularly good, so I thought I'd share a few quick recommendations: Dad's Army (TV, 1968–1977) This comedy is set in WWII and follows a group of Home Guard soldiers in an English town named Walmington-on-Sea.  Their leader, Captain Mainwaring, manages a bank by day and serves as an officer by night.  He takes the whole thing very seriously, determined to transform his ragtag followers - butcher, undertaker, spoiled boy, and all - into a force capable of defending against an invasion. If you enjoy British humor, this show is likely to appeal to you.  It combines several different types of comedy, including dry humor and slapstick, into a coherent medley of laugh-out-loud moments.  My favorite thing about it is the ensemble of characters....

Today I take a nostalgia trip back to the time I first met Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective has impacted my life in many ways, from violin playing to overcoming social anxiety. I also share my thoughts on a number of adaptations, including the Jeremy Brett TV series and Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock . Links: Opening quote read by David Clarke (LibriVox) Opening music - "Ambush in Rattlesnake Gulch" by Brian Boyko (Public domain, FreePD.com)

This week I devoted an entire podcast episode to one of my favorite novels, Eugene Onegin .  Though I only mentioned it in passing, I also watched Onegin , the 1999 adaptation, after reading the book. Liv Tyler was brilliantly cast as the bookish Tatyana; this was just before she became famous for Arwen in The Lord of the Rings .  Ralph Fiennes is a good 10 years older than the title character, but he does a decent job at the Byronic Onegin.  Personally, I found the script to be underwhelming and disappointing - too pedestrian (and stylistically British) to really capture the essence of Pushkin's Russia ca. 1830.  It's too bad, given the cast. That said, I do like the script's translation of this scene from the book.  Tatyana, having professed her love in a letter, must sit through an awkward heart-to-heart from a disinterested Onegin.  While Tchaikovsky's opera infuses this scene with soaring melodies - leading you to think Onegin likes her after all - Fi...

Yesterday my sister, brother, and I hit the local movie theater for a viewing of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom .  We're relatively new fans - Jurassic World 1 (2015) was a first for us - but having since enjoyed the rest of the franchise, we were excited for the next installment of prehistoric monsters chasing after the indestructible Chris Pratt.  After enduring 20 minutes of inanity - er, previews - we sat up in our seats with zeal, watching a very tiny, obviously illegal submarine descend the watery coast of Isla Nublar. Submarine?  Skeletons?  Count me in! This tremendous opener was, alas, the beginning of a tremendous letdown.  Let me break it down into some coherent chunks of thought. But First, Science The movie begins with glimpses of the "Fallen Kingdom": Isla Nublar in decay after the disastrous failure of its Jurassic World theme park.  Cut to a shot of a well-dressed Dr. Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) with some actually sound advice - Let it goooo, Le...

Mild disclaimer...I'm what you would call a "casual" Western fan.  I've read very few Westerns, and my viewing experience has been largely of the vintage variety, ranging from John Wayne classics to more obscure TV series, like my all-time favorite, The Virginian .  I've mostly avoided heavier fare, a la The Revenant , and to be honest, the first Western I liked was a Gary Cooper comedy called Along Came Jones (1945). Gary Cooper's lovably dorky Melody Jones The above makes me particularly ill-qualified to review Westerns as an overall genre.  But since watching A Fistful of Dollars (1964) with my parents last night, I thought I'd share some first impressions of an early Clint Eastwood film.  (Note: my "first" first impression of Eastwood was his film The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), which was too gritty for me to really enjoy.) A Fistful of Dollars is the first of director Sergio Leone's famous "Dollars" trilogy, three "spag...

The past couple of weeks, I've enjoyed three very interesting, yet vastly different, films which take place during or leading up to World War II.  I haven't shared a movie review in a while, so I thought I'd just mention these before I forgot about them. First up is The King's Choice , a Norwegian film released in 2016.  This historical drama begins with the disturbing attack on Norway by the Nazis, who justify the invasion by claiming to offer "protection" against the British.  From there, the movie centers on the response of its government and, more especially, the role of the aging King Haakon VII in what became the resistance movement. I can't speak for historical accuracy, since I came into this knowing nearly nothing about Norway during WWII.  As a drama, it kept my family and me glued to the screen for its whole 2+ hours, and that's with (somewhat poorly formatted) subtitles.  The acting (including the extras') is some of the very bes...

What makes Alice in Wonderland a beloved classic?  This week, I review one of my childhood favorites and some of its creative film adaptations. Links Mentioned: "Pig and Pepper" - Disney concept "In a World of My Own" - Diana Panton  

Great books can make great movies (and, in some cases, better ones).  This week's topic features some of my favorite costume dramas inspired by classics. Editor's note: In my excitement and haste, it seems I mispronounced Wodehouse's name and called videos VCRs... whoops!  (Oh, and The Young Victoria was 2009, not 2012.  Time does fly.) The Questions: First literary drama miniseries you ever watched? Last literary drama you watched? What media forms do you prefer to use when watching period dramas (i.e. purchased DVDs, rented/borrowed DVDs, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu)? Favorite literary drama soundtrack(s)? Favorite literary musical? Literary drama you'd recommend to anyone? If you could have a new adaptation of your favorite classic book, what would it be and who would star? A favorite pair of literary drama friends? A favorite pair of literary drama enemies? Movies or miniseries with the best costumes? Where I found the questions: Old-Fashioned Ch...

Last year, my family and I went to see an exhibit in Seattle called "SPY: The Secret World of Espionage."  It was an intriguing collection spanning historical, military, and technological history, focused mainly on the twentieth century - far back enough to not be secret anymore, yet still close enough to feel recent.  Among other interesting, sometimes diabolical machines, the exhibit had an Enigma encryption device. "An Enigma code could have 150 quintillion possible solutions." This ominous typewriter became Alan Turing's personal nemesis, when he got a job at the not-so-subtly named Government Code and Cypher School.  A Cambridge academic, Turing put his brilliant mathematical-logical abilities to the task of improving the "bombe" (from the Polish bomba ): a machine that would consistently decrypt the Nazis' Engima messages.  This, if achieved, would gain the Allied Powers an incredible strategic advantage, at a time when they desperately neede...