2017

Just a quick post before I leave for the long weekend to wish everyone a Happy New Year.  I hope 2017 brings good things to all of you.

Oh, another quick entertainment tip before I go (to augment the batch of them in the previous post). We caught Woody Allen's latest, Cafe Society last night on Amazon Prime (where it's now streaming), and I found it to be charming and funny, and one of Woody's better recent efforts.  Starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristin Stewart, this one is mainly about that one special love: how we chase it even when it's wrecking other aspects of our lives, and how we still miss it even when we find something equally good that's arguably better for us.

And while the story is ultimately a little melancholy, it's also very funny at times.  I especially liked the subplot about the Eisenberg character's gangster brother, who thought all problems, even if it was just a guy playing his radio too loudly, warrants a bullet to the head and a burial in a building foundation.

Set in Hollywood and New York in the 1930's, the movie is also beautifully shot and has lots of great classic American music.  Anyway, you could do worse with an hour and a half or so of your life than watching this.

Again, Happy New Year, and see you in 2017!

Brief Asides #7

It's been a while since I've done a "Brief Asides" column (and no snarky comments about how it's been a while since I've done a post of any kind), but let's get back on the bike, shall we?  Here are some quick comments about a few things I've read or seen lately...

Rogue One takes a little while to get going, but by the second half turns into as good a Star Wars movie as you could want.  It's really interesting how it manages to be both grim and uplifting at the same time.

On the audiobook front. I've been listening to a bunch of John Sandford's Prey thrillers lately.  Try them out: they all have strong thriller plots, laced with cleverness and excitement, as well as lots of entertaining cop banter.  I'm glad I still have about nine or ten of these left before I'm all caught up.

If you're looking for a thoughtful movie this wintertime, try Manchester By The Sea.  Starring Casey Affleck, who plays a lonely janitor called back to his old hometown to take care of a family issue, this quiet introspective film nevertheless packs an emotional wallop in a handful of key scenes.

I've seen the first two episodes of The Crown on Netflix.  The show is about the early reign of Queen Elizabeth (the one who is actually still on the throne).  Excellent production values, sympathetic characters (yes, even though they're pampered royals) and fascinating biographical details of various famous figures make this a very entertaining show, at least so far.

Oh, in a previous post I noted that I was looking forward to the Netflix series Luke Cage, the Netflix documentary Amanda Knox, and the Amazon Prime series Crisis in Six Scenes.  I'm glad to report that I liked all three of these, which were all solid, entertaining efforts.

Warren Beatty's long-awaited film Rules Don't Apply was a pleasant romantic drama, but I have to say that it's probably fine to just wait to watch it at home.  Which you'll probably have to do anyway, because it's pretty much gone from theaters already.

I liked both the book and film versions of The Girl on the Train.  The former was simply a decent mystery story by Paula Hawkins, heavy on character moments, and the latter was a solid, skillful movie adaptation of that story.  Either or both are worth your time.

Doctor Strange was a terrific Marvel movie, sporting a different flavor than Marvel's other superhero films due to its mystical story.  But it's still fast, funny, and fun.

The film Arrival is worth seeing, too.  But I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I saw.  Lots to chew on afterward with this one!

I've been watching a bunch of original comedy specials, featuring various stand-up comedians, on Netflix lately.  A recent good one was Margaret Cho: Psycho.  While still her usual profane and outrageous self, I liked Cho a little more in this outing than previous ones because she was a little less angry and her humor a tiny bit gentler.  Of course, you may not like the show as much as me because of those facets, but to each his or her own.

Anyway, it was great banging out a post again after my little hiatus, and I hope to get back in the habit of regular posts as we enter the new year! Take care, all!

Must-see streaming

Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc. are getting to be quite the destinations for exciting, thoughtful, and offbeat entertainment these days.  On today alone (September 30) there are three diverse debuts on two of those services to capture the imagination, and I'm looking forward to all of them.

On Netflix, there's the latest Marvel superhero series, Luke Cage, with all episodes now streaming. Following on the heels of the smart and entertaining Daredevil and Jessica Jones (both also on Netflix), I'm betting this one will be a winner, too.

Over on Amazon Prime, there's Woody Allen's six-episode series, Crisis in Six Scenes, which looks to be fairly funny, and represents Woody's first foray into what is essentially TV in decades.  Kind of neat that Miley Cyrus is in it, too.  Will Woody actually attract some younger viewers because of that?

Finally, back on Netflix, there's Amanda Knox, which is not a series but a one-shot documentary about the infamous Knox murder case.  What's compelling is that Amanda Knox herself is in it, and not just via old news footage.  She seems to be a sort of host and narrator.  Interesting, huh?

Any of these catching your fancy, too?

Undercover Bond

Now here's something that really looks interesting.  The terrific movie website BirthsMoviesDeath.com (check it out!) today reported that the late mystery/thriller writer Donald Westlake, in the mid-1990's, submitted story ideas to the producers of the James Bond movies.  The two treatments- apparently variations on the same basic story idea- were ultimately rejected, and Mr. Westlake moved on.

But that wasn't the end of it.  Apparently the prolific author decided (for fun?) to turn the ideas into a novel, which for some reason he then put in a drawer.  Well, that novel will finally see the light of day in June of next year.  No longer a James Bond story, the novel is called Forever and a Death.  Cool title, isn't it?  But the story will presumably feature the same basic scenario and plot Mr. Westlake envisioned for the second Pierce Brosnan Bond film.

Fun little thing to look forward to, eh?  The cover art, which publisher Hard Case Crime has kindly made available, is certainly very nice.

Sidewalk grins

On this fine day, here are a few signs I recently spotted in front of bars around town...

You can't drink all day... unless you start in the morning.

If you're drinking to forget, please pay in advance.

Alcohol!  Because no great story ever started with someone eating a salad.

Cute

This one is mildly politically incorrect, but if we all relax a little it's kinda funny...

A guy walks into a bar and says to the barman, "Give me six double vodkas."

The barman says, "Wow, you must have had one hell of a bad day."

"Yeah", the guy replies as he downs the first of his drinks.  "I just found out my oldest son is gay."

The very next day, the same guy comes into the bar and asks for six more double vodkas.  When the bartender asks what's wrong this time, the guy says, "I just found out that my youngest son is gay, too!"

On the third day, the guy comes into the bar and orders another six double vodkas.  The bartender says, "Geez, doesn't anybody in your family like women?"

The guy says, "Yeah, my wife!"

Trips to the movies

I caught a couple of movies over the long Memorial Day weekend.  I may have more to say about them later, but for now here are some quick observations...

I thought X-Men: Apocalypse was a lot of fun, offering a good mix of drama with a generous amount of superhero action.  The movie is actually pretty rich and lavish, production-wise, which was nice to see, but fortunately it also never strays far from being fun and fast-moving.  The X-Men franchise is controlled by Fox, not Marvel Studios (home of Iron Man, The Avengers, etc.), so it was nice to see that someone else can make a decent film using the Marvel characters (though Fox had less success with the Fantastic Four).  But the X-men films (the main ones and their various individual-character spin-offs) have generally had more hits than misses.  I thought this was one of the better ones.

Alice Through the Looking Glass was okay, considering I really am not much for storybook characters (this movie was my wife's pick).  Keeping me interested was some imaginative time-travel stuff, as this time Alice utilizes a cool-looking flying time machine to sail through time (which is neatly envisioned as a churning ocean) to save the Mad Hatter's family from a tragedy.  This is another lavish, beautiful production, with tons of interesting details that entertain the eye but don't bog down the story.  You'll eat this one up if you have a stronger affinity for Alice, Humpty Dumpty, many talking animals, and similar characters than I do.  But, honestly, even I thought the movie was pretty good.  Thinking back now, I especially liked Sacha Baron Cohen's character; he plays some kind of Master-of-time type guy, and he's a lot of fun.

Oh, I saw both of these movies in 3D, and thought the third dimension served these fanciful stories quite well.  I'd recommend splurging on the 3D if you decide to see either or both of these films.