Category: Movies

3 Brief Movie Reviews

Captain Fantastic-I saw the trailer this summer and wanted to see the motion picture. It was scheduled to play at a local film fest, so TV Stevie and I went. Except the fest was running dreadfully off schedule. We waited an hour and the auditorium doors still hadn’t opened from the previous movie, so we left. I eventually took it out of the library.

I am fascinated by people who live off the grid. I thought this movie would be…more. Loved parts of it. Was appalled at other parts. And the ending disappointed. Two librarians told me it was a good movie, but the ending lacked…more. And they were right.

Cafe Society-I let TV Stevie talk me into watching this one, even tho’ morally we should be boycotting Woody Allen.

I usually like Jesse Eisenberg.  Out of 96 minutes of motion picture, I remember one scene. One. Shortly after the main character arrives in Hollywood, he tries to hire a hooker.  Jesse Eisenberg plays Woody Allen playing Alvy Singer in Annie Hall (who my husband tells me is Woody Allen) and Candy the Hooker is none other than Anna Camp, best known (to me) as the preacher’s slutty wife in True Blood. (Yes, I know, she was in the Perfect Pitch movies, too, but I know her best from True Blood.)

Hell or High Water–Another flick I let TV Stevie talk me into watching.

Yes, it stars Chris Pine and Jeff Bridges, but even that could not redeem this movie. I thought I would hate the movie because the DVD package read as if it was a gratuitous violence film.  An action film, filled with special effects and lacking in plot.

It was not. It had a perfectly respectable plot. Jeff Bridges plays a Texas Ranger (romance hero fodder). The four main characters were fairly well-drawn.

Yet I couldn’t help but think if the same movie had been written about four women in the same situation it would not be as critically acclaimed or garnering the press this one is getting. I mean, look at how much the Ghostbusters female re-boot is being slammed. This movie is ‘important’ only because the characters are guys.

I put Thelma and Louise on my “must watch again” move list.

We Interrupt Your Regularly Schedule Blog Post

Today was a scheduled “Snarky Sunday” post, but I find I’m too grateful to be snarky.

I’ve had a long, lovely Thanksgiving holiday weekend. I’ve left the house only twice: once to go to my parents’ for turkey and trimmings, and once to visit my sister and nephew, who has completed his “man cave” complete with a pretty impressive home theater.  We watched two movies:  Star Trek Beyond and Nice Guys. Both were very funny in their own ways. I had seen the Star Trek movie in the theater and loved it. I loved it even more watching with my family.

So no snark today.

Live long and prosper.

Stealing Home

My second contemporary baseball romance, Stealing Home, came out yesterday.

It’s actually the first baseball book I wrote about the Syracuse Saltboilers, but I didn’t submit it to my publisher until after Summer Fling  came out. Mostly I was worried my publisher wouldn’t like all the movies referenced in the manuscript. The heroine grew up on movies, which helped shape her life.

In fact, there are at least seventeen real movies referenced or named in the novel. Oh, and one made-up title.

My publisher never blinked.

Here’s the cover by artist GD Leigh.

Stealing Home

Isn’t it gorgeous?

She went to Cooperstown for the opera . . . and stayed for the baseball player.

Chelsea Lyndon isn’t about to let a minor thing like being abandoned by her date in a strange town get her down. Maybe she grew up on romantic comedy movies, but she’s a self-reliant realist. No man is ever going to control her . . . not even a too-sexy-for-her-peace-of-mind retired baseball player. But Tripp Shaneybrook is determined to rescue Chelsea, whether she wants his help or not.

Reluctantly accepting Tripp’s assistance when she discovers her bank account is empty and her credit cards maxed out, Chelsea lets herself enjoy being pampered and seduced. The weekend plays out like one of her favorite movies: pure fantasy. And the sex is incredible. But she needs to go home and resume her dreary life.

Tripp has other ideas about that, too.

And when that life begins to fall apart, Tripp is there to help pick up the pieces. Chelsea begins to trust the man whose actions backup his words.

Until his past collides with her reality in a series of incidents that threaten to rip them apart forever.

Buy links for different formats and retailers are gradually becoming available, but my publisher, Loose Id, has all formats available on their website.

 

Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice

The new DC Comics “superhero” movie, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice premieres on March 25. Ben Affleck is the newest incarnation of Bruce Wayne (Batman) and British actor Henry Cavill returns as Superman (Clark Kent).

Initially, I was upset that a British actor was cast to play the most American of all heroes–“truth, justice, the American way” and all that–until I realized that Superman isn’t American. His Clark Kent disguise is American, but Superman (Kal-El) is an immigrant. He may be the ultimate immigrant.

And Henry Cavill is very very easy to look at.

A couple of items of note:

Superman is not really a superhero. He’s an alien living among us, doing good.

Batman is not at all a superhero. He’s a (well-motivated) sicko with gadgets.

Movie Review–The Mockingjay Part 2

I wish I’d waited for this movie to come to the dollar theater. Not that it wasn’t a good movie. And it was fairly true to the book. But the book, in my opinion, was the weakest of the trilogy. And that weakness as reflected in the motion picture version. I particularly didn’t like the ending or the interminable scenes leading from the climax to the conclusion.

I also hate movies shot in the dark. Film is a visual medium. Hello? That means people need to see what’s happening.

Y-Chromo, who treated me to the movie, and suggested that the third book (and therefore the movies based on the third book) was written in a rush, perhaps on deadline, and therefore wasn’t crafted as carefully as the first two installments. He also theorized that the series was not about “the one percent,” but rather about media and how it has shaped our lives. He went so far as to opine The Hunger Games is a an updated, dystopian version the movie Network.

I think I raised my son right.