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Unsolicited opinions on books, movies, TV shows, consumer products
“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.” — Humphrey Bogart (as Rick Blain), Casablanca (1942) The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) Something about this movie bothers me. No, it isn’t that it plunges me into shame, anger, despair, horror, and sadness. No, it isn’t […]
Last month I decided to read some banned books. I gave myself a year to finish the project. I’m sandwiching these books in with my regular reading, rather than tackling them all at once. One month in, I’ve finished four controversial books for children: And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell Looks […]
“It was beauty killed the beast.” — Robert Armstrong, King Kong (1933) Shine a Light (2008) I think the idea was that Martin Scorsese would turn a concert film into cinematic magic, and I must say the photography and staging is brilliant, but really it’s just another concert film and not all that memorable as […]
“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed into a giant insect.” – Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis (1915) The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz I didn’t finish it, I’m slightly ashamed to say. It’s sort of a Dominican version of Catcher in the Rye. Four or five […]
“I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let’s face it.” — Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront (1954) The Ramen Girl (2008) The Ramen Girl is like a prettily-wrapped gift box with nothing but tissue inside. There isn’t enough here to […]
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” – George Orwell, 1984 (1949) A Most Wanted Man, by John le Carré You know what you’re going to get with a John le Carré novel, much as you know what you’re going to get with an Elmore Leonard novel . […]
“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” — Roy Scheider, Jaws (1975) Quantum of Solace (2008) I think Daniel Craig is a great Bond, potentially better even than Sean Connery, but as other reviewers have complained, this movie is too similar to the Bourne trilogy (Bourne Identity/Bourne Supremacy/Bourne Ultimatum) to really have the feel of a […]
“A screaming comes across the sky.” – Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow (1973) Ritual, by Mo Hayder Okay detective thriller with a written-for-TV feel, entertaining but ultimately forgettable. I was far more impressed with Mo Hayder’s The Devil of Nanking. Pig Island, by Mo Hayder Still under the influence of The Devil of Nanking, I went […]