17 Movies and a Book

1. You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008): It was an Adam Sandler kind of day (I later watched #3). Cute enough movie minus the hummus and something else I thought was gross . . .

2. The Breakup (2006): I've seen this one before but I am not a fan (it was on TV). Sure it's sort of fun in a mean way (and we know I love fun in a mean way) but the ambiguous ending irks me.

3. 50 First Dates (2004): I might have seen this before--I've at least seen parts of it but maybe not the whole thing. It's cute. I like it despite the problems I have with a mother only having limited memory and living on a boat.

4. Cache (2005): Add an accent on that e. What the fuck? An interesting concept but way far out in left field where too many French movies seem to reside.

5. Moon (2009): I liked this one a great deal. A sci-fi movie with a very limited cast--basically Sam Rockwell multiplies--that makes a great character study. I was ok with its limitations. Plus, it was made by Zowie Bowie, how fun is that?

6. Funny People (2009): Sandler needs to do more serious roles like this. A return to Punch Drunk Love is in order. He's just so good at them that he doesn't need to make the nonsense.

7. I Love You, Man (2009): I love Paul Rudd.

8. District 9 (2009): Turn away at the nails. Argh! Otherwise a good movie as long as it gives up the idea that it's an apartheid story.

9. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966): It's not bad but, Jesus, it's long. I, of course, watched the extended version, so more staring at each other. I do like a young Clint Eastwood, though.

10. Priceless (2006): Cute rom com a la Breakfast at Tiffany's.

11. Flawless (2007): Bored out of my mind in 12 minutes so I quit.

12. Persuasion (1995 BBC): The dialogue got a bit muddled in accents sometimes but the love story was sweet and very Austen.

13. Footloose (1984): This was a very 1984 day (we watched Ghostbusters later). I've seen this one before, of course. Awesome. Just awesome.

14. Ghostbusters (1984): I don't think I've seen this one since I was a child. Hilarity.

15. His Girl Friday (1940): How did I miss this one? Cary Grant? Snarky? It's fun. I liked the banter, of course but wish it could have kept up with itself just a bit better.

16. Once Upon a Time in America (1984): It's movies like this that make 1984 look bad. Seriously. I was about to give up at an hour thirty in because nothing happened. Nothing. Another half hour, barely anything. J watched the middle by himself and I caught the end with him. I totally called the "twist" the minute it was a possibility, 10 minutes or so in. Nonsense. Complete nonsense.

17. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944): Again with the Cary Grant and the sort of snarky and me missing it until now. And, again, super fun but wished it kept the pace the whole movie.

18. The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee (2009): I have a few problems with this book; the first of which is the fact that the book is not about a piano teacher. There is a piano teacher and she plays a vaguely important role but she is not the center as the author imagines her to be and she is not interesting. Further, she could be basically eliminated from the book with little to no ill effects. She is nothing more than a trick to move the plot forward. Ok. So, the book runs dual narratives in Hong Kong, one in the early 40's before and during the war and the other in the early 50s. That works just fine except the pacing is off. There is a whole chunk in the middle that is only the 40s (the piano teacher is only in the 50s sections) and the end has to play with sequencing in an unnatural and unprecedented way (for this book) to make the suspense work. The book more or less is about the privileged in Hong Kong and what one will do to survive in war and afterward. It is an interesting read and the end is suspenseful but it leaves a few holes that should be filled in rather than passed over with a "things happen during the war." The book also suffers for its misguided and lazy focus on the piano teacher (not to mention the useless and silly epilogue) when it should be focusing in on one of the main players in the action. It could, for example, have focused in on Will (the piano teacher's lover who was imprisoned during the war and the lover of another of the main characters before the war--he's a definite main player) and just had the piano teacher as a side thought. She still could have served the same plot furthering but not pretended to be the main character. She doesn't have the heft or the purchase in the main action to be the protagonist. It's just too easy to make the main character a woman who saunters in en medias res. I wish the author had taken the challenge and gotten her hands dirty.