Book and Movie Log 2016
I'm off to a good start on my Movie and Book goals for 2016. :)
Movies 01 to 05
Goal: 40 movies in 2016, 25 of which must be New To Me
01. The Revenant (2015) - starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy
When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I immediately thought "NO." Then I kept seeing the trailer, and they added some bits, and it looked quite interesting, and I moved it up into my "Want To See" column.
I should have left it as a NO.
I know it's getting all kinds of praise and it's nominated for 807 awards and apparently Leo is the second coming or something, but jeeeeeeez. This is an overlong, pretentious, self-consciously art school movie. If I had to see one more vista of the snowy plains I might have just shot myself. If I had to see one more vision of Leo's dead wife I would have stuck a spork in my eye, especially if she was floating on top of him because omg that looked ridiculous and came off as something a first time director would do and think was really cool but NO. I could not wait for this to end. Aaaand it comes off as schizophrenic, too, because on the one hand it wants to be this 'reality based' story and be all gritty and hardship and woe, and on the other Leo is this superhuman who get mauled and buried alive and attacked by Indians and on and on and by the time he falls off a cliff and still lives and he's basically not even injured I just threw up my hands and gave up.
One good thing: Tom Hardy was unrecognizable to me as the antagonist Fitzgerald. Watched the whole movie and had no idea it was him. He really immersed himself in the role, so .. that's some good acting, I suppose. Too bad I didn't care about any of the characters at all.
02. Captain America (2012) - starring Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan
and
03. Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014) -- starring Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan
My co-worker keeps insisting that we have to go see "Captain America: Civil War" together, which is kind of a problem since I'd never seen the first two. Cap just doesn't do it for me. But the trailer for "Civil War" does look quite good, and I like Tony Stark and Scarlet Witch, AND Sebastian Stan is quite the cutie - so I decided to give these a try.
I hated the first movie. I found it incredibly boring. I despise the incredibly superficial Agent Carter, who knows a sweet, kind, brave guy but only becomes interested in him when he gets buff. That Red Lobster dude was absolutely ridiculous (but then the villains almost always are) and anytime there's alien/Asgardian artifacts in the plot I basically zone out.
In contrast, I pretty much adored the second movie. Much more straightforward, no crazy alien doodads, Steve and Natasha make a great team, Falcon is awesomesauce, and I love Bucky. Poor Bucky! Now I'm looking forward to the third one.
04. Jersey Boys (2014) - starring John Lloyd Young, Vincent Piazza
A rewatch for me. I loved this movie so much when it came out, and my rewatch was a little disappointing. The pacing is off. But the fantastic music and the fine performance by Piazza as Tommy DeVito still make it a pleasant diversion.
05. The Finest Hours (2016) - starring Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Michael Raymond-James
Loved it! Not only does this movie - the true story of a coast guard rescue of the crew of an oil tanker that had split in half during a violent storm - take place in 1952, it also has a lot of old-school sensibilities. It's a direct, upfront story that doesn't get bogged down. The writing is, in my opinion, excellent. There are probably about eight to ten characters that we get to know in some detail, and the writing is quick and concise enough that we understand them all within a few short scenes. The journey of the two main characters - Pine as the coast guard officer in charge of the rescue and Affleck as the chief engineer struggling to keep the ship afloat - is nicely paralleled. Both men are socially awkward and shy, but have an affinity with their ships and a knowledge of the water that makes them ideal for the positions they find themselves in. Both come into their own. Affleck in particular is really good - even when he has no dialogue, you can tell that he's thinking, you know?
And it was nice to see Michael Raymond-James again.
The Tally:
New to Me: 4 movies
Rewatch: 1 movie
TOTAL: 5 movies out of 40
Books 01 to 04
Goal: 45 books, of which approximately 15 can be rereads
01. Captive Prince Volume 1 by CS Pacat
And
02. Captive Prince Volume 2 by CS Pacat
In preparation for the concluding volume - which comes out on February 2nd, EEEEEE!!! - I wanted to reread the first two volumes of this incredible story. The reread did NOT disappoint. The world Pacat creates is so lush and real, the characters are moving and realistically rendered, the plot is ridiculously intricate and precise, and that love scene in Volume 2 is still the best I have ever read - she never loses sight of who these characters are and how they would act in that pivotal moment, and it makes my breath stop.
I CANNOT WAIT FOR TUESDAY. I literally am not scheduling anything for Tuesday and Wednesday. I intend to work and read. And hopefully it will be slow enough at work that I can do both at the same time!
03. Airframe by Michael Crichton
Blech. For some reason I thought Crichton was Grisham (yeah, I don't know) and got halfway through this book and was wondering what the HELL happened to his style when I realized I had gotten the two guys mixed up. This reads like non-fiction - as each character is introduced we get a brief character summary and description which is then never referred to or referenced or needed for anything ever again. Then the characters deliver big chunks of exposition in the form of dialogue. The story, if we can call it that, is about an inflight error that resulted in several deaths and the manufacturers of the airplane trying to prove it wasn't their fault. I figured out what caused the error right at the beginning of the book, but I guess I can't expect too much deductive reasoning from characters that are made of cardboard.
04. The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
I'm not a huge Grisham fan, but I really enjoy all the detail he puts into his worlds of lawyers and their usually shady dealings. Perfect example of write what ya know, I guess? This one was about the murder of some supreme court judges and a plucky law student. Kinda hated the Mary Sue-ness of the law student, but those background details did not disappoint.
The Tally:
New To Me: 2 books
Rereads: 2 books
TOTAL: 4 books read
.
Movies 01 to 05
Goal: 40 movies in 2016, 25 of which must be New To Me
01. The Revenant (2015) - starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy
When I first saw the trailer for this movie, I immediately thought "NO." Then I kept seeing the trailer, and they added some bits, and it looked quite interesting, and I moved it up into my "Want To See" column.
I should have left it as a NO.
I know it's getting all kinds of praise and it's nominated for 807 awards and apparently Leo is the second coming or something, but jeeeeeeez. This is an overlong, pretentious, self-consciously art school movie. If I had to see one more vista of the snowy plains I might have just shot myself. If I had to see one more vision of Leo's dead wife I would have stuck a spork in my eye, especially if she was floating on top of him because omg that looked ridiculous and came off as something a first time director would do and think was really cool but NO. I could not wait for this to end. Aaaand it comes off as schizophrenic, too, because on the one hand it wants to be this 'reality based' story and be all gritty and hardship and woe, and on the other Leo is this superhuman who get mauled and buried alive and attacked by Indians and on and on and by the time he falls off a cliff and still lives and he's basically not even injured I just threw up my hands and gave up.
One good thing: Tom Hardy was unrecognizable to me as the antagonist Fitzgerald. Watched the whole movie and had no idea it was him. He really immersed himself in the role, so .. that's some good acting, I suppose. Too bad I didn't care about any of the characters at all.
02. Captain America (2012) - starring Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan
and
03. Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014) -- starring Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan
My co-worker keeps insisting that we have to go see "Captain America: Civil War" together, which is kind of a problem since I'd never seen the first two. Cap just doesn't do it for me. But the trailer for "Civil War" does look quite good, and I like Tony Stark and Scarlet Witch, AND Sebastian Stan is quite the cutie - so I decided to give these a try.
I hated the first movie. I found it incredibly boring. I despise the incredibly superficial Agent Carter, who knows a sweet, kind, brave guy but only becomes interested in him when he gets buff. That Red Lobster dude was absolutely ridiculous (but then the villains almost always are) and anytime there's alien/Asgardian artifacts in the plot I basically zone out.
In contrast, I pretty much adored the second movie. Much more straightforward, no crazy alien doodads, Steve and Natasha make a great team, Falcon is awesomesauce, and I love Bucky. Poor Bucky! Now I'm looking forward to the third one.
04. Jersey Boys (2014) - starring John Lloyd Young, Vincent Piazza
A rewatch for me. I loved this movie so much when it came out, and my rewatch was a little disappointing. The pacing is off. But the fantastic music and the fine performance by Piazza as Tommy DeVito still make it a pleasant diversion.
05. The Finest Hours (2016) - starring Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Michael Raymond-James
Loved it! Not only does this movie - the true story of a coast guard rescue of the crew of an oil tanker that had split in half during a violent storm - take place in 1952, it also has a lot of old-school sensibilities. It's a direct, upfront story that doesn't get bogged down. The writing is, in my opinion, excellent. There are probably about eight to ten characters that we get to know in some detail, and the writing is quick and concise enough that we understand them all within a few short scenes. The journey of the two main characters - Pine as the coast guard officer in charge of the rescue and Affleck as the chief engineer struggling to keep the ship afloat - is nicely paralleled. Both men are socially awkward and shy, but have an affinity with their ships and a knowledge of the water that makes them ideal for the positions they find themselves in. Both come into their own. Affleck in particular is really good - even when he has no dialogue, you can tell that he's thinking, you know?
And it was nice to see Michael Raymond-James again.
The Tally:
New to Me: 4 movies
Rewatch: 1 movie
TOTAL: 5 movies out of 40
Books 01 to 04
Goal: 45 books, of which approximately 15 can be rereads
01. Captive Prince Volume 1 by CS Pacat
And
02. Captive Prince Volume 2 by CS Pacat
In preparation for the concluding volume - which comes out on February 2nd, EEEEEE!!! - I wanted to reread the first two volumes of this incredible story. The reread did NOT disappoint. The world Pacat creates is so lush and real, the characters are moving and realistically rendered, the plot is ridiculously intricate and precise, and that love scene in Volume 2 is still the best I have ever read - she never loses sight of who these characters are and how they would act in that pivotal moment, and it makes my breath stop.
I CANNOT WAIT FOR TUESDAY. I literally am not scheduling anything for Tuesday and Wednesday. I intend to work and read. And hopefully it will be slow enough at work that I can do both at the same time!
03. Airframe by Michael Crichton
Blech. For some reason I thought Crichton was Grisham (yeah, I don't know) and got halfway through this book and was wondering what the HELL happened to his style when I realized I had gotten the two guys mixed up. This reads like non-fiction - as each character is introduced we get a brief character summary and description which is then never referred to or referenced or needed for anything ever again. Then the characters deliver big chunks of exposition in the form of dialogue. The story, if we can call it that, is about an inflight error that resulted in several deaths and the manufacturers of the airplane trying to prove it wasn't their fault. I figured out what caused the error right at the beginning of the book, but I guess I can't expect too much deductive reasoning from characters that are made of cardboard.
04. The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
I'm not a huge Grisham fan, but I really enjoy all the detail he puts into his worlds of lawyers and their usually shady dealings. Perfect example of write what ya know, I guess? This one was about the murder of some supreme court judges and a plucky law student. Kinda hated the Mary Sue-ness of the law student, but those background details did not disappoint.
The Tally:
New To Me: 2 books
Rereads: 2 books
TOTAL: 4 books read
.