"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
Unsolicited opinions on books, movies, TV shows, consumer products
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker The Color Purple is a story told in short letters. Letters, at first, from a barely-literate Celie to God, letters that are little more than raw observations of a brutal, degraded, hopeless life. Letters, later, from Celie’s sister Nettie, reminding Celie of their shared history, relating the progress of […]
“I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too!” — Margaret Hamilton (as the Wicked Witch of the West), The Wizard of Oz (1939) Sunshine Cleaning (2008) I have a hard time understanding why some reviewers put this one down. True, it comes out of the same box as Little Miss Sunshine and other […]
“It was that kind of a crazy afternoon, terrifically cold, and no sun out or anything, and you felt like you were disappearing every time you crossed a road.” J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye Point to Point Navigation: A Memoir, by Gore Vidal Gore Vidal always was a name-dropper. A talented, even brilliant […]
“May the Force be with you.” — Harrison Ford (as Han Solo), Star Wars (1977) The Class (Entre les Murs) (2008) I don’t like teenagers and I’m not cut out to be a teacher, so I was prepared to dislike this movie. Curiously enough, I liked and disliked it at the same time . . […]
“The world breaks us all. Afterward, some are stronger at the broken places.” Ernest Hemingway, Farewell To Arms The Girl Who Played with Fire, by Stieg Larsson A Swedish journalist delivers three manuscripts to a publisher. He then dies. The manuscripts are published posthumously, one by one. No, this isn’t some high-concept movie pitch, it’s […]
“Hey, don’t knock masturbation. It’s sex with someone I love.” — Woody Allen (as Alvy Singer), Annie Hall (1977) S. Darko (2009) I liked Donnie Darko, but I didn’t see much point in S. Darko, unless the point was to cash in on the the success of Donnie Darko. Movie producers don’t do that, do […]
Some reviewers dismiss Avatar as a 2 hour and 40 minute visual effects feast with 20 minutes of plot. Other reviewers slam it for having a plot based on exploitation and imperialism. Okay, Avatar is a long movie. But I was riveted to my seat the entire time, and not merely by the visual effects. […]
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope, by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer Several months ago a marketing director at HarperCollins read one of my book reviews. She contacted me to ask if I would read and review an advance copy of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, and of […]