Despite a truncated
week—I took a day trip to Chicago on Saturday, and had some personal things pop
up—I still had a productive first week of 2017:
I read three books and watched five films.
Books
Been
Here All Along by
Sandy Hall: C+. Reviewed here. This book was a lot of fun to read, and I did
so in one sitting.
The
Motherfucker with the Hat
by Stephen Adly Guirgis: B. Despite how vulgar the play is, and
how typical of a story it is, I enjoyed the banter between the five
characters. I also liked that the play
was more insightful than it had any right to be.
Talking
As Fast As I Can
by Lauren Graham: B. I needed something to listen to on my train ride to Chicago, and
this was available. I am not that big of
a Gilmore Girls watcher (it was more
of a thing for my sister to watch while growing up), but I heard from a friend
that the book is not a recap of that show and instead was a typical celebrity
memoir. I enjoyed Graham’s wit, and I
will always support a fellow English major!
Movies
Miss
Stevens: B. I was looking for something on
Netflix tonight and eventually settled on this, even though I have heard
nothing about it. It is a pleasant movie, and Lily Rabe gives a great lived in
performance as a high school teacher. Could have done without the scene with
the teacher jumping on a hotel bed with her sixteen-year-old student, but
thankfully that did not turn into a creepy thing.
I
Dream Too Much: C-. Does this movie even exist? It has
less than 200 votes on IMDb, there are no reviews for it on Rotten Tomatoes,
and halfway through watching it Netflix assumed I was bored and went to the
main menu, so I had to select it again to finish the film. It is not bad; it is
just a boring great aunt/niece vehicle for Diane Ladd and Josh Brolin's
daughter. This might be the cure for insomnia, because I feel like eating a
package of Fig Newtons and calling it a night.
Don't
Think Twice: B-. This improv ensemble movie, which
features a Saturday Night Live
knockoff called Weekend Live, has
been on my radar for a bit, as some friends on a movie forum I frequent loved
it. It is a fine ensemble effort;
Gillian Jacobs is easily the standout.
Hidden
Figures: B-. Some of the filmmaking techniques
are tired, and I could have done without the Kirsten Dunst and Jim Parsons
characters. Still, the movie is a lot more captivating and coherent than I
thought it would be for a mainstream biopic like this. Taraji P. Henson is
great; Janelle Monáe is better.
Weekend:
B+. This movie came out in 2011, and it
inexplicably took me five years for me to catch it late at night on
Netflix. It has a simple plot that takes
place over the course of two days and three nights (hence the title), but the
characters are so full-fledged that by the end of this 90 minute movie, I was
totally sold on their romance. As far as
LGBT movies goes, this is easily one of the best released in the past ten
years.
Here’s what I plan to
read and watch this week:
Books
The
Colorado Kid by
Stephen King: I have a copy of the mass-market
paperback book on my bookshelf; however, I found an illustrated version of the
book at the library, so I thought I would give it a shot. The book is under 200 pages as is, and the
illustrated version takes it to just over 200—so I don’t anticipate this being
a big time commitment.
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson: I heard about this graphic novel a year or
two again. This is another impulse grab
from the library.
Movies
The
Little Prince: I’m on a roll with these random Netflix
movies.
Paterson:
I received an invitation to see this film on Wednesday. It is getting buzz for Adam Driver’s
performance as a bus driver. Despite
watching the trailer, I don’t know too much more about the film.
Silence:
A three-hour Martin Scorsese movie about priests? Sign me up!
I may try to see some
other movies—Ben Affleck’s Live By Night
is opening this week—but I may just catch up with some sleep instead.
No comments:
Post a Comment