We now step firmly into genre work with two spooooky ghost stories, a rousing sci-fi adventure, and Salman Rushdie’s excellent meditation on Jinn as an allegory for terrorism. Two Years, Eight Months, and Twenty Eight Nights by Salman Rushdie…Terrific novel that starts a little slow, but builds up to a terrific conclusion as it becomes clear…
Category: Mindless Mondays
Book Reviews: Rogue Lawyer, Marauders, House of Wolfe, Other Son, and The Swimmer
It’s been way too long since I’ve done any book reviews, and—in keeping with a proud Alabama Liberal tradition of overkill—I’ve decided to do 24 of them in 24 hours. [Hey, why not clear 2015’s books out all in one day with a special promotion?] We begin with five “thrillers” (everything from spy to legal)…
Book Reviews: The Kind Worth Killing, The Hand That Feeds You, The Daylight Marriage
These are all domestic thrillers that had various tactics in exploring the age-old theme (well…since “Gone Girl” scored Harry Potter level sales anyway) of relationships gone bad. I’ll admit that some strategies work better than others. The Hand That Feeds You by A.J. Rich…Whereas “The Daylight Marriage” went for realism and “The Kind Worth Killing”…
Movie Review: Zootopia
The best of the lot, and that may not be saying much since I didn’t like any of the other movies reviewed today, but “Zootopia” actually is really good. What Works: Yet another example that the most quality big-studio films coming out these days are actually movies that are technically “for kids.” Between the simple pleasures…
Movie Review: Allegiant
The latest in the “Divergent” series is just killing time before the conclusion, and is yet another example in Hollywood’s questionable decision to keep splitting the final part of a Young Adult trilogy into two films. It’s never been necessary—from Twilight to Hunger Games—and it’s particularly obvious it’s not here, since we’re essentially watching half…
Movie Review: Gods of Egypt
Whew…this is just not the day for quality films. What Works: Egyptian mythology is a great jumping off point for a movie. We know too little about it and that should give it the thrill of the new if done right. Sadly, this is not an example of it being “done right.” I will say that every now…
Movie Review: The Brothers Grimsby
This movie is horrible. What Works…In Name Only: The magic of Sacha Baron Cohen mostly involves tricking unsuspecting people into revealing their prejudices (Borat, Bruno), and it actually works really well. But his scripted movies? Not so much. “The Dictator” was underwhelming but still worthy of your time. However, this spy comedy is nearly unwatchable. Most…
Hollywood Can Absolutely Do Something About Georgia’s Anti-LGBT Law
Since The Supreme Court has decided that marriage equality can be the law of the land, and anti-gay voices also lost their biggest advocate when Antonin Scalia died, it was only a matter of time before the Southeast decided to give up a losing battle and allow gay people to live equally right? Hell no!…
“House of Cards” Season 4 is Its Best Yet
I’ve been very vocal about my disappointment in season 3 of “House of Cards.” [I said the entire season was tied for a specific episode of “The Strain” for the most disappointing TV moment of 2015.] Boring characters took center stage, interesting ones were completely marginalized (Doug was off angrily staring at his kitchen for much of…
Movie Review: Whisky Tango Foxtrot
A movie I wanted to like more than I did, but still a really noble effort in a time when anything marketed “War Comedy” is likely to be an instant skip-it from a major studio. While other reviewers have chosen to pull out a magnifying glass and scrutinize the film’s every politically incorrect sin, I…
Movie Review: Triple 9
It comes pretty close to being a halfway watchable heist noir, but something just never quite comes together. It has all the lyrics right, but you can’t feel the music. Prime example: the movie has a great cast, but never really does anything with them. What Works: Any movie that stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Woody Harrelson, Anthony…
Movie Review: Deadpool
Not as good a movie as the great reviews or ecstatic box office would suggest, but still a pretty decent time for the 50 or so people who haven’t seen it yet. What Works: It has the best beginning for a movie (so far) this year, as we’re treated to a slow motion fallout from a…
Movie Review: Zoolander 2
Who cares about this movie? I get that Ben Stiller was forced to come up with something now that his franchises are stalling out—Meet the Parents ended, Night at the Museum ended, Madagascar can’t go on forever—but “Zoolander 2” won’t be it. The only thing more predictable than the movie itself is that it was…