Title: Brown Eyed-Girl
Bookit #6
Author: Lisa Kleypas
Release Date: 2015
Medium: Large Print Hardback
My grade: B
I found this book on a stroll through Ollies, a discount surplus store with a huge book section. I thought the summary on the back looked interesting and got it. My first reaction was surprise at just how huge the large print was. It seemed bigger than the usual large format I’ve seen in the past, but its been awhile so I could have been wrong. I found it actually takes a bit to get used to the different size when you aren’t used to it.
This book apparently is the fourth book in a series about the Travis family. I wasn’t aware of that before I read it, so that might have affected how I read the book. There seemed to be bits that seemed rather shallow and under developed and that might just have been because the assumption was you’ve read the previous three books. The book overall was not bad. The story focuses on Avery, a fashion designer turned event planner who focuses on Weddings. She is a bit guarded due to a really bad break-up and the memory of her father’s tendency to never stay committed. Joe Travis wants to change her mind on relationships, but he can only do so much. With Joe and Sophie (her sister)’s help she ends up finding more confidence in herself and allowing herself to open up and trust others. It does have its clichéd moments, but then what romance novel doesn’t?
I think I may try to read the earlier books and see if it changes my mind on the book. Till then its a good light read.
Title: Ladies in Lavender
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama/Romance
Director: Charles Dance
Cast: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, and Daniel Bruhl
This film was based on a short story written by William J. Locke that caught the eye of Charles Dance, who directed the film. At the start of the film two sisters walking on the beach near their home find a half-drowned polish boy and take him in to care for him. There is a bit of an issue at first when they determine he is Polish as he doesn’t speak English – however he does speak German and Janet (Maggie Smith) does as well, though poorly.
Andrea (Daniel Bruhl) slowly recovers, learning English from the sisters. Ursula (Judi Dench) falls in love with him, finding herself jealous of the friendship he develops with a visiting woman named Olga Daniloff (Natascha McElhone from Designated Survivor).
The movie in general is not bad. I wouldn’t say it was a movie that I would insist on watching, but if it happened to come on, I’d probably stop to watch it. I found that while I found the one-sided romance between Ursula and Andrea a bit odd, it did not get to the point where you feel uncomfortable about it.
My grade is going to be a strong B. The story was interesting, the cast was a good collection of actors, but the music was not quite balanced with the film itself.
Other notable cast members include Miriam Margolyes(Harry Potter), Clive Russell(Game of Thrones), and Toby Jones (Captain America: The First Avenger).
Note: Novemeber, due to being NANO, is going to have more reviews and the like and less research intensive essays. December will have us back to normal business with a variety of posts returning.
Title: Ghost Ship
Release Date: October 25, 2002
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Rating:R
Director: Steve Beck
Film: Wonder Woman (PG-13)
Director: Patty Jenkins
Release Date: June 2 2017/September 1 2017
Grade: A
I really enjoyed this movie. I will admit that one of the reasons I wanted to see it is because I like Chris Pine, but honestly he was only one element of a good film. The background of the Amazonians was well-developed, and Robin Wright did an amazing job as the general. I wish we had seen more of her in the film then we did.
The secondary characters were great as well, and they didn’t ignore the idea of PTSD from the war. They also didn’t make the superhero always right. I’m also glad they made it be WWI, and not WWII. While the Germans are still the guys following the bad guy, It gets tiring after a while to see it always be the Nazi’s (although if there is a Nazi, they should be fought). This movie didn’t shy away from the fact that at the time there was many disadvantages to not being white and male without making it seem like a lecture. It didn’t glorify war, but it wasn’t heavy-handed with the opposite. It had an even tone through out. There were plenty of female characters that had names and lines none of them were seen in awkward near nudity scenes. Diana’s uniform is reveling, but functional rather than just something that makes her look ‘sexy’ which has long been a comic book flaw. I was surprised that they reversed the trend of seeing women in surprise nudity to seeing the guy in surprise nudity. Although he was taking a bath, so it is a little more understanding then say what happened in Star Trek where Carol Marcus just starts changing in front of the man who is technically her boss.
I also give them credit for an amazing plot twist at the end which didn’t stick to all the conventions either.
It was a good origin film, connecting well into the general DC universe. I have to admit that out of the DC films I have seen, this has been the only one I have enjoyed. I can only hope that DC takes note from this and the movies will improve in quality of writing.
Besides Chris Pine, Gal Gadot, and Robin Wright, it has a lot of familiar faces. Danny Houston plays the German General, who perhaps is not unlike his edition of Stryker from the X-men movies. David Thewlis, known for his portrayal of Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter films plays Sir Patrick, one of the leaders of Great Britain attempting to make an armistice with the German forces.
I am currently reading a novel called PS From Paris by Marc Levy. Mr. Levy is a French Author, so my edition is an English Translation (and also from Kindle First, so not quite out yet to the non-prime purchasers). It’s the sequel to another novel which was made into the movie “Just like Heaven” starring Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo. It made me curious. This is only the third time I knowingly read a book that was translated (I’m sure there were a few in English class I never considered being translated during High School).
My question to you: Are you more likely, less likely or neutral to read a book that says its been Translated from its native language? And if you do read translated books, have you ever attempted to read the original language? Or found it lacking a little due to the translation losing some of the intent?
The last book I read that was translated before this one ended up being a unlikable one, but apparently one that was very popular. It was called the Glassmaker, and I can’t recall if I posted my review here or on Bubblews (now gone). This book however is something I am enjoying so far. It made me wonder if perhaps I limit myself by not searching out books that are translated from other countries. There are so many stories out there that I may be missing because I don’t come across them.
Title: The Truth about Leo
Author: Katie MacAlister
Publication Date: August 2014 (Kindle Edition)
Grade: C
There are times I come across books and I feel like either the Author was told they needed to write the book, or they rushed it. This is one of those times. The main characters seem interesting, but we learn hardly anything about them. The minor characters for the most part are characters from the other books, which is nice. I found it readable, but perhaps not one I would feel like I missed out on something by not reading it.
The main characters of this novel, the fourth in the Noble series, are Leo Mortimer and Dagmar Sophie. She’s an impoverished princess whose cousin is the Prince regent of Denmark. Prince Frederick (actual person in history) is tired of taking care of his cousin (and Dagmar is, from the accounts of her mother, a thorn in Frederick’s side) and tells her to find her way to family, or she will be sent to a French Convent. Instead she marries a wounded soldier, Leo Mortimer, and gets transportation to England where she plans to go into business as a shop owner.
Most of the book deals with the two in almost a honeymoon like phase. They get over their respective issues with what happened rather quickly. Some of the books conversations are a little hard to follow because there are so many people in them, and some are even multiple conversations occurring at the same.
It does have its moments, though. MacAlister has a knack for funny dialogue and banter. I just find this novel to not be one of her best.
Also the B plot mystery about Dalton’s nephew is missing quite a few pieces. I feel like there is two stories, trying to fit into one book and failing to do so.
So as Article One created the Legislative Branch, Article Two creates the executive branch. Notably this branch contains the President and Vice President, but it also contains the cabinet and their departments as well as a few other smaller government offices.
Section One
This section sets up the Presidency. Who it is, how long he/she is in there, and how they are elected.
A long time ago, I believe I watched the original Ghostbusters film, but to be honest it has been so long ago that I barely remembered it. Going into watching this version of the story I was wondering if it was going to be a different verse, or a continuation or otherwise how it would relate to the original. The answer was its a whole different universe from the originals, but the actors who were in the original who were still living all make some brief appearances in the film.
I found it hilarious at times, and some random actors showed up that I wasn’t expecting like CHarles Dance (aka Tywin Lannister) and Ed Begley jr who plays another Ed Jr.. Chris Hemsworth’s Kevin was also a hilarious take on the dumb secretary trope. The cast as a whole was excellent, and the cameos of the original actors were interesting. The longest appearance was by Bill Murray who plays a critic of the ghostbusters who thinks they are making it all up.
For the most part I enjoyed it, though there were one or two times a joke went on too long, and the credits were over done a little. Also the theme music appeared more in the trailer then perhaps it did in the actual movie. The soundtrack in general was a little less then what I was expecting.
Considering one of the larger complains I heard prior to watching was that the cast was all female, I don’t think gender had an any effect on the quality of this film. The cast did an excellent job
So my grade for this movie is a B+. I’m definately planning on adding it to my collection at some point and I do hope that they get the sequel that they wanted.
Debbie Reynolds is one of the actresses that always seemed to be there. On one hand I knew her as Carrie Fisher’s mom, but I also knew her as a classic film actress. I haven’t seen too many of her films, but her name being on the list was always a point in the favor of the film for me.
Besides the films, a friend and I had been writing various stories together and had come up with this character named Mama Todd. Debbie Reynolds was our face for the character.
My favorite Debbie Reynolds movie was a bio-pic called ‘The Unsinkable Molly Brown’, where she played the titular character. Molly Brown is most known for surviving the Titanic. Its actually one of my favorite classic films.
The Trailer:
Another favorite,and probably more well known, is of course Singin’ in the Rain where she plays Kathy, a singer who plays the voice of an actress when the movie is slated to become a talkie rather than a silent.
Of course the most known scene:
Another movie I recently saw of hers that I found hilarious was These Old Broads, and worth it for this scene:
I have decided that its time for a list post. This one is a list of my favorite Christmas movies. Every year we are given more and more christmas movies to enjoy, and some are good, some are bad, and some are so bad they are good.
But I’ll just stick to my favorite five, in no particular order.
Borrowed Hearts
Borrowed Hearts is a 1997 CBS Christmas movie starring Roma Downey and Erik McCormick. The premise of the movie is a bit cliche: Sam Fields’ Buisness partner Dave lies to a potential investor that Sam has a family, so they need to hire one for a few days. None of the actors work out, but in stumbles in Kathryn and her daughter Zoe, who seem to fit. He convinces her to be his pretend wife for a few days, which due to Mr. Delcampo’s extended stay ends up staying over Christmas. Its a cute movie, and has Hector Elizondo as DeCampo.
(I would put a clip here, but alas most of the clips on Youtube appear to be either the complete film or another film all together.
White Christmas
So here’s my traditional movie on the list. I grew up watching this movie. Even though its a little oddball (Its a part musical, so its not suprising) its a fun movie to watch. Plus I love Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney has a wonderful voice to listen to. There are two main plots to this story. Phil and Judy want to live their own lives, so they push Bob and Betty together an in attempt to get the two to focus on something else for awhile. Except it backfires when Betty gets some misunderstood gossip from the General’s personal assistant about Plot #2. That plot involves Bob and Phil trying to pull together a show and a special reunion of their war buddies to aid their favorite commanding officer whose hotel in Vermont is not doing as well as he would hope.
Its also Irving Berlin Music which shows up in a lot of musicals of the time. And then there is this scene:
Love Actually
This is a lovely assembly movie. It begot a bunch of less awesome assembly holiday based movies, but I can forgive it. For one it has an awesome cast including Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Andrew Lincoln, Martin Freeman, Emma Thompson, Laura Linney and many many more. Although some of the various plots are a bit annoying (Poor Andrew Lincoln for example plays a creepy best friend in love with Best friend’s wife) the overall film is cute and the various examples of love and relationships are splendid.
Nightmare before Christmas
This is a Christmas movie AND a Halloween movie. The premise of the movie is that Jack, the king of Halloweentown, finds himself bored with his life. It never seems to change. One day while walking his ghost-dog, he stumbles into Christmas Town and Suddenly is awash with new things to do. He’s going to do christmas up in style.
Except things don’t go as planned, because its hard to explain Christmas to citizens who live Halloween. This is my favorite Tim Burton film.
The Holiday
Another cute movie (my big requirement for a christmas movie is it be cute) where two woman switch places for a vacation before Christmas to Take a break from some crappy life happenings. My favorite plot line of the move is the one for Kate Winslet, who not only finds happiness, but also finds her own personal strength and ‘gumption’ through friendship with her temporary neighbors. Sure, its ultimately a romance, but the friendship is one of the highlights of the movie.
Sokorra Lewis 