Book 12

My wife and I are fans of the show Castle. It's one of the shows we always try to watch together. We have enjoyed Nathan Fillion since we saw him years ago on Firefly. And he is great in the role of a ride-along crime fiction writer with a NYPD homicide squad.

So when we discovered that they were actually publishing the fictitious books Castle was writing on the show, we were intrigued. Unfortunately, the books tend to leave us with the feeling that we wish we were just watching the TV show. However, we have now read all three of the Nikki Heat books and each one does seem to be better than the last. Although I wouldn't call any of them great.

I finished the third book in the series, Heat Rises, as my 12th book. While this was the best book in the series to date, it was still fairly average. I'm a pretty casual mystery fan, but the plot moved along nicely here. The ending might have been a little rushed, but I get that feeling a lot with detective stories.

The main problem with the book is that scenes and plot threads seem to be lifted directly from the TV show. This installment even had some dialogue, especially one liners, straight out of the TV characters' mouths. I guess I can understand it as an inside joke, but it gives weight to that feeling that I'd just rather be watching the real show.

One area where these books are actually a bit better than the show is they have moved along the relationship between the writer and the detective. No more coming up with artificial reasons to extend the ride-along. However, the books are a little more crass than than the show when it comes to this area, so maybe it is a toss up. Anyway, I'd probably only recommend this to Castle fans when the show is in reruns.

Movie 24

A couple of weeks ago I watched an old TV miniseries with my wife called Holocaust, originally shown on a broadcast network. As I mentioned when I posted about The Devil's Arithmetic, one of my boys had to watch a WWII movie for school. Knowing nothing about this one, I piked it up at the library as an option. Only when I got home and found 3 DVDs in the case did I realize it was a miniseries from the 70s.

While we didn't make the kids watch it for school, we decided to put it in to see how it was. I think I miss miniseries. They were a good way to tell an involved, dramatic story without needing to commit to a whole season of TV shows. Holocaust tells the story of a German Jewish family in WWII. I thought it was a good look at the atrocities committed in that time, even if it was unrealistic that one family would have all this happen to them. I have read that the show was criticized for this, basically making everything happen to one family for dramatic purposes. But overlooking that, it wasn't a bad miniseries, at least for the 70s.

It was pretty graphic for broadcast TV, with the violence and even some nudity. Probably realistic, but I'm glad we didn't have the kids watch it. Some images were very disturbing, which you would expect with the subject matter. There were even some photographs shown which looked like they were actually from the concentration camps.

I was surprised at the names involved with it, namely Meryl Streep and James Woods as the mixed marriage couple. Michael Moriarty was also good as an SS officer. The whole cast put on a good show over the 7.5 hours of the miniseries.

Afterward, I hesitated about including this as a fiftyfifty movie, since it wasn't really a movie. I had already decided I wouldn't count TV series, but would count cable movies or direct to DVD releases. Made for TV movies are more of a grey area, as are miniseries. But in the end I figured I was on pace to reach about 100 movies this year, so why not count this?

Book 11

I finished reading my last Goodreads pick last week, The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. An interesting book, although I was a little surprised to find it labeled as a Teen book, I figured the nonlinear style, along with the WWII subject matter, wouldn't find much of an audience there. But I'm hardly an expert in YA lit, so what do I know.

I was a little hesitant when I got into the book because of the nonlinear narrative. A lot of the time these type of things pull me out of the story. Or it comes across as a wink at the reader, the author's way of saying, "See what I did there?" But this worked well. It gave the book more of a conversational tone so that the format didn't get in the way of the story, but enhanced it.

The book did start slow. I don't know if this was a function of the nonlinear narrative, or if I just struggled with it at first. It felt like a large chunk of the first half was all introduction. Having said that, I did find myself getting caught up in the characters' various stories in the second half, and thought the pacing moved along nicely.

I also enjoyed the point of view here. I don't mean Death as a narrator, although that seemed appropriate for a WWII setting. Most WWII books I've read, or movies I've seen, at least recently, have Holocaust victims as the point of view characters, which certainly imparts the terrors of war. But using a civilian, a young German girl, as the main character made it fresh for me. That may not be the best phrase for a war story, but it gave me a different perspective. And it still let me feel the individual's suffering in a country at war.

So this wrapped up my recommendations experiment. The three books my friends rated 5 stars, I rated 4 stars each on Goodreads. Worthy recommendations, and I don't need to worry about these friends' literary tastes. My worry now is my to-read list will grow beyond control as I watch what they read.

Movie 23

Our Family Movie Night Pick this weekend was Zookeeper, a talking animals movie starring Kevin James. My wife saw it in the Redbox and figured the kids would like it. I'm a casual Kevin James fan at best, and I'm leery of the talking animals gimmick, so I wasn't expecting much. But I have to admit I enjoyed the movie, and even laughed a few times.

I'm not saying the movie is danger of winning any awards, but it was a fun, silly, family movie. James was good in his comic role. The animal voices were done well, too, although I'd still call it gimmicky. The romantic comedy plot was predictable at best, but the cast carried the show. I thought Joe Rogan, or "the Fear Factor guy" as my wife called him, was especially well cast as James' rival. Rosario Dawson, Donnie Wahlberg, and Ken Jeong were also all bright spots as the coworkers.

Like I say, it was a silly movie hanging its hat on a gimmick, but I'm not above saying I cracked a few smiles. Not bad for a Sunday evening family flick.

Movie 22

When I was in college, I lived with my grandparents. One thing I learned about my Grandpa is he liked Westerns like I like Sci Fi. When I had to watch John Ford's The Searchers starring John Wayne for a film class, Grandpa loved it. When he found out I'd never seen High Noon with Gary Cooper, he sat me down and watched it with me. He read Westerns sometimes as well, but these movies are where we connected.

So when the remake of True Grit came out last year, I realized I had never seen the original. I couldn't believe here was a John Wayne Western, a fairly famous one, I'd never watched with Grandpa. Both versions of the movie went on my to-watch list.

This week with my wife and I watched the more recent one. I heard good things about it from coworkers, and I think the Coen brothers are great movie makers, so I was expecting to enjoy it. It was even better than I thought it would be. Even taking into account all the familiar Western trappings: the Indian territory, a US Marshal, a Texas Ranger, a search for justice, rattle snakes, and shootouts. I guess the old Western still has a place in American storytelling.

The cast was fantastic. I've always liked Jeff Bridges, whether it's Tron or Lebowski. And I'm a Matt Damon fan. But I was really impressed with Hailee Steinfeld as the teenager trying to track down her father's killer. It was a good portrayal of girl thrust into responsibility for her family's affairs at a young age. She was great in this role.

I feel I did this a little backwards, watching the remake first. But the library does have a copy of the original, so I'll be checking that out soon. And Grandpa, I'll be thinking of you.

Movie 21

Last weekend we watched another Rowan Atkinson movie for Family Movie Night, Johnny English. When I got Bean: The Movie from the library, this DVD was included as a double feature. It was fun, light spoof of spy movies.

Of course, it is more enjoyable if you like British humor. My wife actually fell asleep while watching the movie, and woke up towards the end of the movie where an elderly gentleman was mooning the audience. Her only comment was. "What is it with the British and bums?" But on the whole, if you like Atkinson's other work, you'll like this.

The plot was a bit silly, but that's what you would expect from this type of comedy. The actors all pulled it off well, including a surprisingly good performance from Natalie Imbruglia. I don't think I even knew she acted. John Malkovich was also good as an over the top villain. I think I'd actually recommend this over Bean. Of course, as far as I'm concerned, the TV show Mr. Bean is where to find Atkinson at his best.

Book 10

This weekend I finished the second book I picked based on ratings from my Goodreads friends: The Power and the Glory rated five stars by my brother. I have to admit, Graham Greene could write. And this is far and away the best of his I've read, although that is a small sample size.

The author has drawn a remarkable character in the whiskey priest. A man torn between his duty and his human weakness. As the story went on, I found myself caught up in the priest's struggle. I was engrossed in his plight right up to the bitter end, to see if he found some measure of redemption.

Greene has created a good setting as well. I found the historical Mexican backdrop interesting, even if it made me realize how ignorant I am about this "redshirt" period. Overall, a great story.

One thing that I found surprising was that I struggled at first to get into the book. As I mentioned, Greene was a good writer. But he was British, and wrote this many decades ago, in the 30's. I didn't think that would be a big deal. After all, I've read history books that were from the 1910's. Perhaps fiction is different. I have read some 19th century literature, Jane Austen and Wilkie Collins and such, but that was back in college. Whatever the reason, the differences of time and geography made a bridge I had to work at to cross.

So in the end, a worthwhile read, even if it took more effort to get through than anticipated.

Is it bad that when I hear the phrase "The power and the glory" instead of hearing hymns of praise I hear Rush's "The Big Money" in my head?

Movie 20

One of my sons is learning about the Holocaust in school this month. One of the class assignments is to watch a movie about WWII or the Holocaust with your parents. We picked a made for cable movie, The Devil's Arithmetic, which is based on the book by Jane Yolen. My wife and I had read the book some time ago and enjoyed it. We figured this would be a good movie to introduce the subject to the kids.

As far as I can tell, the movie is historically accurate. Well, there is the framing device of a girl going back in time to experience the things her family went through back then, but the parts about the Holocaust seemed accurate. The going-back-in-time portions probably worked better in the book, but it put forward the idea that these are events never to be forgotten. "Always remember" is a common phrase in the movie.

I was surprised at the actors I recognized. Kirsten Dunst and Brittany Murphy did an excellent job carrying the movie. It was interesting to watch the main character grow to realize the importance of her family's heritage. Perhaps it only offers a glimpse of what the Jewish people went through, but it is a glimpse that helps you understand the toll it took on individuals who survived.

So it was a good movie to watch for a school assignment on the Holocaust. And as such, even though it is a made for cable movie (it was done for Showtime in 1999) I have no problem counting it as one of my fiftyfifty.me flicks. Recommended as an introduction to this sensitive subject.

Movie 19

The other movie I watched with my wife this week was The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1. All I have to say about this is, "Yawn." I tolerated the first three movies in the series that I watched with my wife. She liked them so when she finally bought the DVD I figured I'd spend an evening watching it with her. This one was a deal breaker for me. Way too boring.

They really needed to split this into two movies? For a wedding and a drawn out honeymoon? And the scene I thought I'd enjoy, the fighting between wolves and vampires, was cut way too short. As was the potentially interesting back story of the past life of the vampires. Add to this the fact that everyone mumbles their lines and it was almost unwatchable. And all this is leaving aside the fact that the heroine is someone who seems to define herself by her relationship to the males in her life.

Back when she read the books, I told my wife that I would probably read the books someday. I like to keep up on popular fiction, see what the rest of the world is reading. Sometimes this works for me (Hunger Games, Harry Potter), but other times it doesn't (The Da Vinci Code) After this movie, I doubt I will be reading the books.

Movie 18

This week I watched a couple of movies with my wife. One was Killers, which my wife found while browsing on Netflix. She likes both Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, and even Tom Selleck, so she thought we might enjoy this. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a let down.

The film tries to cross a secret agent action flick with a romantic comedy, and does a sub-par version of both. There was a strange lack of chemistry between the leads. The plot was pretty much unbelievable, especially the disappointing reveal at the end of who was behind it all. But really, the wooden interaction between the characters was what doomed the movie.

I think it would have worked better if it had been done in a more absurdist vein. I mean really play up the weirdness of suburban neighbors and coworkers trying to assassinate you and your spouse. This would have cut into the romantic comedy the movie was aiming for, but it missed that mark anyway.

My wife even agreed that the movie was mediocre at best. That seems to describe a lot of the Netflix selections of streaming movies.

February's List

February's media consumption slowed down a bit, but still pretty good:

Books:

Jan:

1. The Hunger Games

2. Catching Fire

3. Mockingjay

4. The Janitor's Boy

5. The Road

Feb:

6. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

7. Strider

8. Touching the Void

9. Perloo the Bold

Favorite so Far: The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr, but The Hunger Games is close.
Biggest Surprise: The Janitor's Boy, by Andrew Clements. Nice examination of the father/son relationship, especially for a children's book.
Biggest Disappointment: The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. I really wanted to like this book better than I did, but it was just too bleak for me.

Movies:

Jan:

1. Inception

2. Knight and Day

3. Tuck Everlasting

4. The Mighty

5. The Adjustment Bureau

6. Transformers: Dark of the Moon

7. Sherlock Holmes

8. Mr. Popper's Penguins

9. Diary of a Wimpy Kid

10. X-Men: First Class

11. Dolphin Tale

12. Taken

Feb:

13. Gnomeo and Juliet

14. The Tourist

15. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

16. Bean: The Movie

17. Alex Rider: Operation Stormbreaker

18. Killers

19. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1

Favorite so far: Inception, hands down. Very well done. I enjoyed The Adjustment Bureau as well.
Biggest Surprise: Probably Sherlock Holmes, I enjoyed it more than I expected.
Biggest Disappointment: Transformers, even though I wasn't expecting much, Bay didn't even meet those expectations.Breaking Dawn wasn't great either.