nomadreader

I've been tearing through Michael Connelly's lengthy backlist, and I often find myself with repetitive things to say about them, so I'll mostly be doing mini-reviews of his titles, unless one compels me to write more deeply. Note: the reviews of The Closers and Echo Park contain spoilers from prior Connelly books. The Closers  is the eleventh title in Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series. After being retired, Harry is back with LAPD, and he's working in the Open/Unsolved unit. It's a fascinating turn for Harry, as he and his partner are assigned a series of years, including some from when he was a beat cop. Will he have the chance to solve cases he has seen before? The case that dominates this book is the 17-year-old abduction and murder of Rebecca Verloren, a sixteen-year-old mixed-race teenager. The case benefits from new technology, and the mystery has an urgency to it that surprised me for a cold case. As I read, I found myself hoping Connelly wou...

The basics: Grace (played by Brie Larson in a Critics Choice Award nominated performance) works at a group home for troubled teens, along with her boyfriend, Mason. My thoughts: I knew nothing about Short Term 12  when I sat down to watch it. It intrigued me because Brie Larson was nominated for a Critics Choice Award for Best Actress for it. All of the other nominees were this year's usual suspects. Why had I not heard of this film? After I finished it, I was even more baffled, as it's the best film I've seen in quite some time. Brie Larson's performance is phenomenal, but I'm not necessarily convinced it's the film's best. I'd give that honor to Keith Stanfield, who plays Marcus, a long-time resident of the home who is about to turn eighteen (Blessedly, Stanfield is  nominated for an IFC Independent Spirit Award for his performance.) From start to finish, there is an emotional delicacy to this film. It would be very easy to sensationalize the t...

In a World by Lake Bell Lake Bell does triple duty in this comedy she wrote, directed, and starred in. She plays a  Carol, a struggling vocal coach who finds relatively unexpected opportunities in voiceovers for movie trailers, a strictly male-dominated field. The film's biggest strength is its smart, often dark humor. When it veered into schmaltz at times, it was less successful, but still highly enjoyable. Intelligent comedies with strong female characters are far too rare, and this one is definitely worth watching. Rating: 4 out of 5 Availability: dvd Peeples  by Tina Gordon Chism Peeples  is an utterly forgettable script made quite entertaining by the tremendous talent of its cast. Kerry Washington, unsurprisingly, is amazing as Grace Peeples, a smart, talented young woman from a rich, Sag Harbor family. She's dating (and living with) Craig Robinson, but her family has no idea she is. He's goofy and likable, but I found their coupling on the laughable side o...

Fruitvale Station by Ryan Coogler Near the beginning of Fruitvale Station , Ryan Coogler's debut (as screenwriter and director), the audience sees some of the actual cell phone video of the last moments of Oscar Grant III's life in Fruitvale Station in the early morning of January 1, 2009. I was familiar with the story before this film, but this choice places an omen over the rest of the film, which then takes the viewer to get to know Oscar through the last day of his life. I was gripped with fear throughout the film. In each scene, I kept expecting something terrible to happen, even though I knew the terrible moment, when Oscar is shot in the back by a security guard while handcuffed on the ground, would come near the film's end. The tension is still palpable. Coogler paints a well-rounded portrait of Oscar. He isn't made a martyr--the viewer sees all of him, both the positives and the negatives. Some of these moments were more successful than others, but I think it...

The backstory: Dirty Wars  is one of the five films nominated for the Best Documentary Academy Award this year. The basics: Jeremy Scahill, a foreign correspondent for The Nation,  investigates the unseen wars the U.S. is fighting. My thoughts: Jeremy Scahill, best known for exposing Blackwater, sets his sights on uncovering the stories behind the NATO reports. He's first drawn to Gardez, Afghanistan, where civilians and an Afghan police chief trained by the U.S. are killed. Throughout the film, Scahill manages to get impressive access to both government officials and locals in the war zones. The film isn't necessarily a marvel of visual filmmaking, but it is a marvel of documentary film as an information resource. The emphasis here isn't style; it's relaying critical information. By taking the viewer along on Scahill's journey, this film watches like an unfolding mystery. Although Scahill didn't know how this story (or stories) was end, I'm thankful...

Hysteria  by Tanya Wexler I really wanted to love this film. Hugh Dancy and Maggie Gyllenhaal in a historic feminist comedy? It should be right up my alley. The tone of the film overall is somewhat bizarre. At times it feels like a comedy, but at times it was much more serious. The actors often seemed as though they were acting in different films. Ultimately, I don't think the film's direction was clear enough. I've seen Sarah Ruhl's fabulous play In the Next Room , which also focuses on the invention of the vibrator, and perhaps the excellence of that play negatively impacted my enjoyment of Hysteria . There were some wonderful moments in this film, but overall, I was pretty disappointed this story and this cast only made a mediocre film. Rating: 3 out of 5 Availability: dvd Lee Daniels' The Butler by Lee Daniels Based very loosely on the true story of an African-American butler who served from Eisenhower to Reagan and lived to see Obama's presidenc...

Bubble  directed by Steven Soderbergh Bubble  is a film best enjoyed knowing very little, so I will say very little about it. After reading the two-sentence description on Netflix, I said to Mr. Nomadreader about an hour into this seventy-three minutes film, "when is [spoler] going to happen?" Ultimately, I adored Bubble , but it progressed somewhat slowly. It's not a film all may enjoy. Steven Soderbergh didn't hire actors. The lead, Debbie Doebereiner, was found working at KFC. There was no script. Instead, these untrained actors (who come across as real people, likely because they are) improvised all of the lines from an outline. The result is a fascinating slice of life of a working class town. Much of the film is a snapshot of ordinary life, and while I enjoyed this setup, it did drag at times. The last fiftenn minutes, however, are simply divine. It's worth seeing, but even if it's not working for you--don't stop watching. Rating: 4 out of 5 Ava...

The backstory: 20 Feet from Stardom  is nominated for best documentary at this year's Academy Awards (and the Independent Spirit Awards, the NAACP Image Awards, and already won the Critics Choice Award.) The basics: 20 Feet from Stardom  goes behind the scenes of the last fifty years of music to showcase the backup singers behind some of the biggest hits in pop, rock, and R&B. My thoughts: Admittedly, the description did little for me. I finally decided to see it because it keeps getting nominated for so many awards. I should have paid attention earlier because 20 Feet from Stardom  is the best documentary I've seen this year (and I've already seen fifteen.) While the description is certainly true, what makes 20 Feet from Stardom, like so many great works of art, so special are all of the other intangibles. It's not a coincidence that the backup singers are overwhelming black and female. This powerful social narrative moved me deeply. The stories of these ind...

The backstory: The Bling Ring  is the latest film written (adapted from a Vanity Fair  article) and direct by Sofia Coppola. I'm a huge Sofia Coppola fan (my review of Somewhere . ) The basics: Based on true events, The Bling Ring  is the story of the rise and fall of five teenagers who visit and rob celebrity homes when the owners are out of town. My thoughts: There's a starkness to Sofia Coppola's films I enjoy. Even in this film, whose subjects are almost comically extravagant, there is a starkness, in both sound and visuals, that firmly establishes this film as critical rather than sensationalist. Yet Coppola doesn't strong arm the preposterousness of these teenagers; she allows them to present themselves as they did, both privately and publicly. Admittedly, my enjoyment of this film was somewhat hampered because I was so familiar with the story. I found myself enjoying the first half more, as I often do with films based on true events. The genesis was more fasc...

I adore Marion Cotillard. Knowing she stars in Rust and Bone  was enough to put it at the top of my Netflix queue, and I sat down to watch it knowing nothing of the plot. Incidentally, that's exactly how I recommend you watch it too. To describe the plot gives too much away, so I'll say these two things: Marion Cotillard's performance blew me away with its power and rawness and it's the best film I've seen this year. That she was only nominated for a Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award and not an Oscar astounds me. Rating: 5 out of 5 Source: Netflix Although I stopped paying attention to most sports several years ago, I do still watch as much of the four tennis grand slams as I can each year. There's a peace to letting sports into my life four times a year for two weeks at a time. Serena Williams remains my all-time favorite tennis player. She's far from perfect, but I love to watch her play. This documentary goes behind the scenes of the 2011 tennis s...

There's a lot to like in Flight : Denzel as a alocholic, drug-taking all-star pilot, a delightfully cooky John Goodman has his drug dealer/fixer/enabler, and a compelling idea for a film. After a night of drinking and sex with a flight attendant, Denzel wakes up to chug a warm beer and do several lines of cocaine to wake himself up enough to fly. It appears to be his standard operating procedure. When things go wrong during the flight, he manages to land the plane and save almost all of the passengers, but when the TSA and airline start looking into what happened, his hero status is in serious jeopardy. What made flight turn from fascinating to unsatisfying for me was that it tried to hard: there were already plenty of areas of moral ambiguity and complicated situations playing out--but instead of allowing those to, the film takes an overly dramatic and simplistic turn that had me wondering if I was watching a made-for-tv movie. Denzel's performance is worth watching, but thi...

I've only ever seen one episode of Star Trek . And I can't even tell you which Star Trek  series it was. By the time I realized it might be something I would like, I was overwhelmed. I've picked up on some of the characters through pop culture, of course, but I'm mostly clueless. When Mr. Nomadreader asked if I wanted to watch it with him, I said I did, but only if he wouldn't get mad if I asked a lot of questions because I like to get  all of the inside jokes. In the end, the only part of the film I was confused by was that Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pine are both different people and both in the film. I really thought Chris Pine was just playing his father and himself. What makes this film so accessible is its scope: it essentially explains the entire backstory and in some way feels like a giant setup for another film. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. The highlight: learning Captain Kirk's full name is James Tiberius Kirk, which made me laugh because ...

The backstory: Before Midnight  is the third film in what I hope is an ongoing series rather than a trilogy. The first two films, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset  are two of my favorite movies of all time . The basics: We meet Jesse and Celine again, nine years after their poignant walk around Paris, in Greece. Slowly we learn they have been together since that day in Paris and they now have twin daughters. My thoughts: Despite my best efforts, I had high expectations for this film. I have loved Before Sunrise and Before Sunset  for years. And Before Midnight  was getting ridiculoulsy good reviews. Then Peter Travers said " It's damn near perfect. " And Owen Glieberman said it was " enchanting entertainment that's also the most honest and moving film about love in years ." They're both right, but what I wasn't prepared for in this film was how much it hurt to watch. Before Midnight  is so different from the other two films. There are cer...

I was fourteen when I first saw Before Sunrise . I'm pretty sure I saw it more than once in the theater, but I definitely remember it's one of the few films I've owned on VHS, Laserdisc (my family were early adopters), and dvd. It's a film I've loved for years. It's a film I still know most of the lines and facial expressions, even though I had not seen it in at least two years. Yet when I sat down to watch it with my husband Friday night, I was amazed to discover the film resonates more with me now than it ever has. Let me back up. In case you're unfamiliar with this film, it's the story of Jesse, an American, and Celine, a Frenchwoman, who meet on a train. Jesse is heading to Vienna, where he flies out the next morning. Celine is returning to Paris after visiting her grandmother in Hungary. Jesse convinces Celine to get off the train with him in Vienna, and they explore the city and talk all night. This description will likely either make you want to...

In my continued attempt to catch up on reviews, here are mini-reviews of two films I've seen this fall! The Queen of Versailles I expected The Queen of Versailles , a documentary detailing how billionaires Jackie and David Siegel react when they must stop building their dream home, the largest home ever built in the United States, to highlight their excesses. I did not expect this tale of lavishness (and to some extent cluelessness) to make me feel guilty for my own excess. This documentary is extraordinary in two ways: when filming began, the market had not yet collapsed, and the Siegels were living preposterously large. Their demeanors change, just as their lifestyle must, as the film progresses. Yet beneath all of their extravagance is a warning of scale: our financial position is precarious, even at my much, much more minimal level of income. It made me question what living within your means actually means--across all income levels. It's not all serious, however...

The backstory: Although I wasn't a huge fan of The Help  as a novel ( my review ), I was eager to see the film, which is nominated for numerous Academy Awards, including Best Picture. My thoughts:  While I liked the film a little more than the novel, I'm still not a big fan of this story. I think it's difficult to comment on a film's pacing when you've read the novel (and found it slow), but I think pacing is still an issue in the film, even though it's a lesser one. Similarly, I found the book to be too long, and I also felt the film was too long. I found the plot of the novel telegraphed from the beginning, and the problem was still present in the film. I will say, however, the acting was quite good, and I did find myself being swept away by the performances, while Stockett's use of language never blew me away. Much of the press, particularly during this awards season, has been on Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer. Both gave fine performances, but Jessi...

The backstory: The Artist  is nominated for numerous Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor and Best Director. It's already won Best Picture at the BAFTAs, Golden Globes, and Critics Choice Awards. The basics: Set in 1927, The Artist  is the story of George Valentin, an enormously famous silent film star. It traces George's fate as talkies begin to dominate the film industry. My thoughts: I took many film courses in college, and I've sat through more silent films than I wish I had. (While there are some that stand up to my modern viewing sensibilities, most I would have preferred to see clips from.) I think even those only familiar with silent films in the abstract aspect will understand their conventions in this film and enjoy the seemingly inside jokes about silent films. I hoped The Artist  would move beyond its conventions and provide a modern take on silent film. I hoped it would explore the human condition in a meaningful w...