Catch up with News of the World

Tom Hanks and Helena Zengel in News of the World

News of the World

?Directed by Paul Greengrass?
?Written by Paul Greengrass and Luke Davies?

The review:

Tom Hanks does his Tom Hanks thing* as he plays a Civil War veteran eking out an existence as someone who travels from town to town to read the news. Helena Zengle meets his acting standard as the white girl raised by Indians who is supposed to be returned to her family.** This movie rolls along hitting all the tense and respite places and is a good way to spend a few hours.

The verdict: Good

Cost: $1.30 via Redbox (with discount)
Where watched: at mom’s house

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*It’s a good thing he has going.
**Most of her performance is nonverbal, which is impressive.

Questions:

  • At what point did you correctly guess the ending?
  • What was the best course of action for Johanna?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

This is the fifth time Tom Hanks has played a character with the rank of captain. News of the World (Capt. Jefferson Kyle Kidd), Greyhound (Capt. George Krause), Sully (Capt. Chelsey “Sully” Sullenberger), Captain Phillips (Capt. Richard Phillips), Saving Private Ryan (Capt. John Miller).

Other reviews of News of the World:

Orange background with a white frame. See all those words printed in a line one after the other? Put 'em all together and you have a story. See all those words printed in a line one after the other? Put 'em all together and you have a story. —News of the World. Read the three sentence movie review: 3SMReviews.com

We Visit the A, B, Sea

For our date tonight, we searched out Mike Bennett’s A, B, Sea display, which I read about in the Oregonian. Each day, Bennett puts out another letter in his themed alphabet in his front yard. We were there on the nineteenth day, so could see A through S.

Matt writes postcards to his niece and nephew.

We both posed for this top-notch head-in-the-hole display.

Matt poses next to his initials: jellyfish and manta ray.

I especially liked this elephant seal.

I posed next to my initials: pelican and clownfish. Also, when we visited, there were no other people present. I think maybe families come earlier in the day.

Though no seashells were available when we stopped by, you can see that others have decorated and returned these seashells and they were added to the display.

There were postcards and stickers to take home.

It was a fun find! Thanks, Mike Bennett. After the entire alphabet appears, this will go to live at the Rogue Brewing in Newport.

Mystery Date’s Plot Should Remain a Mystery

Brian McNamara, Ethan Hawke, Teri Polo, and BD Wong in Mystery Date

Mystery Date

?Directed by Jonathan Wacks?
?Written by Parker Bennett, Terry Runte?

The review:

The movie that provided the first starring roles for Ethan Hawke* and Teri Polo is not one for the history books,** though its crime is being incredibly middle of the road, not terrible. It’s one of those movies that reminds me how the 80s kept going for a bit into the 90s,*** and it fits into that action/comedy slot but sprinkles in a bit of romance. I found the plotting interesting and was wondering at some point how everything would manage to come together in the end.

The verdict: Skip

(Unless Teri Polo or Ethan Hawke completist.)

Cost: HBOMax monthly charge ($12.99)
Where watched: at home

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*Hawke has some signature things he falls back on at this point in his career, like looking to the side as if in heavy thought, shaking his head, and regretfully saying something. If I follow through on my hazy plan to catch up with all of Hawke’s performances, it will be interesting to see when those tics disappear.
**It didn’t, for instance, come up when Ethan Hawke was discussing his iconic roles in this (highly recommended) video.
***Teri Polo’s hair! The hair of Ethan Hawke’s mother and friends! The boxy, flowy clothing on the men!

Hasn’t aged well:

Stalking and theft! Great ways to get the girl!
The main character uses his brother’s telescope to spy on the girl he’s too scared to talk to. He later uses information he gathers to ingratiate himself with her.
The main character steals a bag of trash from the house where the girl he likes is staying. Later, he and his brother go through the trash to learn more about her. This information is used (with a bit of fun gaslighting) to convince her to go on a date.

Questions:

  • What would have been the thing that finally had Geena Matthews saying, “Nope, this isn’t the guy for me”?
  • What did you think of the many Asian characters in this film?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The crazy metal band on stage at the night club is GWAR.

“Is that GWAR?” I said to myself during that very scene. This movie was interesting from a music perspective. All sorts of things one wouldn’t think would be thrown together in a movie. Songs by Sonic Youth, INXS, Seal, and Wilson Pickett. Plus GWAR. But like I said before, the 80s kept going into the 90s for a bit. There was a guitar/sax thing that was lodged deep somewhere in my psyche. Thanks to the internet, I now know that it was “Lily Was Here.” I don’t know if I ever knew the title.

Other reviews of Mystery Date:

  • Rita Kemply, Washington Post
  • (Great quote from this review: Hawke has a pleasant lackadaisicality about him, a way of sidling up to a punch line…)
  • Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Orange background with a white frame. Well, fine. Well then I'll just go over there and say, "Hi, I'm Tom and you don't know me, but I've been spying on you for a couple of months now and I am finding you very attractive in a very real, very hormonal way." And then she'll slap me silly.—Mystery Date. Read the three sentence movie review. 3SMReviews.com

Keeping the Faith: The Elusive Grownup Comedy

Edward Norton, Jenna Elfman, Ben Stiller in Keeping the Faith

Keeping the Faith

?Directed by Edward Norton?
?Written by Stuart Blumberg?

The review:

I watched this in the theater on its release and remembered it being a little slow.* Still, I find it to be eminently likable just from the young-religious-men shaking up the structures aspect** plus I find Jenna Elfman delightful. There were bits of not-great acting*** scattered about, but it’s a pretty even-kneeled Ben Stiller,**** Edward Norton playing the opposite of his Fight Club character and makes for a great Sunday Afternoon Movie.*****

The verdict: Good

Cost: Monthly HBOMax subscription ($12.99)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Still true!
**Advantage casting your movie with a rabbi and priest: it’s a pretty clean movie, language-wise.
***By all three leads.
****He can sometimes get to manic in portraying neurosis. He did have a bit of physical comedy that had me wishing we got more physical comedy out of him. But divorced from the whole Meet the Parents thing.
*****Sunday Afternoon Movie—one that provides you with one last gasp of trouble-free weekend before the windup to the work week begins. Plus, Milos Forman has a bit part and a good speech. Also, it’s set in New York City and was released a year before 9/11.

Hasn’t aged well:

Ken Leung has a small part in this film, appearing as a salesman at the store where Norton and Stiller go to buy a Karaoke System. He does a high-energy version of “Jessie’s Girl” sung in broken English. It all rang very Long Duck Dong, and doesn’t really work.

Questions:

  • Who is your favorite (now dead) actor in this film?
  • Why didn’t we get more of Jenna Elfman?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The first movie starring Edward Norton to not be rated R.

Other reviews of Keeping the Faith:

Orange background with a white frame. May those who love us, love us. And those who don't love us - may God turn their hearts. And if He cannot turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles, so that we may know them by their limping. May those who love us, love us. And those who don't love us - may God turn their hearts. And if He cannot turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles, so that we may know them by their limping.—Keeping the Faith. Read the three sentence movie review 3SMReviews.com

Celebrating Nineteen Years

Well. It’s our second pandemic anniversary celebration (who woulda thunk?) and so we ordered food to go yet again. From this menu we chose pork schnitzel, sugar snap peas with almond dip, asparagus panzanella, and hand rolled couscous.

I have no pictures of the food, but it was delicious and I hope to eat at this restaurant when we can eat at the restaurant.

And here we are at 19 years.

We also ordered desserts from St. Honré Bakery. They were much smaller than I imagined. They were also delicious.

New Category: Hasn’t Aged Well

My teenage years were full of many warm comments about Breakfast at Tiffany’s. (This was before Deep Blue Something’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s song .)

“Such a good film!”

“That dress! And Audrey Hepburn is so beautiful!”

“’Moon River’ is a great song!”

“It’s iconic!”

George Peppard, Audrey Hepburn, and Patricia Neal in Breakfast at Tiffany's

When I sat down to watch the film on VHS, I was ready to be dazzled. And I liked it just fine. That is, until Mickey Rooney made an appearance.

In the film, Rooney plays Hepburn’s landlord, who is constantly scolding her for something I forget. Maybe she’s late on the rent? Haranguing landlords fit in fine with the narrative, but the character’s name was Mr. Yunioshi, and Rooney portrayed a man with a heavy Japanese accent and exaggerated “Japanese” mannerisms.

I was horrified. And this was probably around 1992 or so? Anti-Japanese feelings were still running high. “They’re stealing our jobs” was a pretty common refrain and my family only drove cars made by U.S. manufactures. I’d grown up with racist cartoons, the whole bit. But Rooney’s antics were worse than I’d seen.

Mickey Rooney in a racist depiction of a Japanese man.

It ruined the film for me. I couldn’t believe that amid all that gushing about the classic film, not one person had added, “Oh yeah, and brace yourself for a very racist portrayal of a Japanese man.”

Those scenes still would have been bad, but at least I would have known they were coming. Why hadn’t anyone remarked on them?

While Rooney’s characterization was reflective of the early 60s, (though it’s never okay to make fun of a group of people, no matter the decade) it wasn’t reflective of the early 90s. There were still things to like about the film. Hepburn did look fabulous and “Moon River” is a great song (though a little short on lyrics, Mancini!) If only someone had given me the heads up about Rooney, Breakfast at Tiffany’s would occupy a different place in my heart.

It is because of this that I introduce a new category in my reviews: Hasn’t Aged Well.

It won’t appear all the time, because new movies haven’t yet aged. But when I watch a film and a thing or things just aren’t hitting right, I’ll alert you to them with that category. There are probably a lot of good things about the rest of the film, and you might be better able to enjoy them if you know you might be cringing in places.

I like to think of this category as the Mr. Yunioshi Memorial Category.

What’s your most memorable Hasn’t Aged Well moment?

Books Read in April 2020

Picture Books

The Bear in my Family
Maya Tatsukawa
Read for Librarian Book Group

Readers may wonder early on who the bear really is.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Carole Boston Weatherford and Frank Morrison
Read for Librarian Book Group

The illustrations and rhyming storytelling is top-notch in this picture book about the Queen of Soul. But what really pushes the book to greatness is the cover hidden under the jacket.

Young Adult

Rent a Boyfriend
Gloria Cho

Cho imagines a world where young Asian-American women can rent a boyfriend to get their parents off their backs. (This is, apparently, a thing that does happen in Asian countries.)

This was a fun romance.

Let Me Hear a Rhyme
Tiffany D. Jackson

This book is a love letter to a time and place (90s Brooklyn). I had trouble with the back and forth of the narrative, but enjoyed the mystery and the antics.

The Rest of the Story
Sarah Dessen

A great summer-at-the-lake story with observations about class, family, and addiction. I sometimes felt whiplashed by Dessen’s technique of jumping forward and then looping us in, and I wished I had made a character list at the beginning. But the characters were great and they kept me reading.

The Way You Make Me Feel
Maureen Goo

Trying on and shedding personalities is one of the most interesting things about being a teenager. Due to a prank gone awry at her junior prom, Clara starts spending more time with new people and that makes apparent what her current attitude leaves out of her life.

As usual with Goo, really great characters!

Fan Art
Sarah Tregay

This book is set in Boise and I’m pretty sure the high school in this book is standing in for my high school. Aside from that very specific enjoyment, I liked that the main character was out to his parents and not out to his friends. It’s rare to see that combo.

My Calamity Jane
Hand, Ashton, Meadows

Calamity Jane, Annie Oakley, Frank Butler, and Wild Bill Hickock take us on an alternate history trip as they hunt garou, what we call werewolves. Full of the patented asides the Janies are famous for, this was a great trip, though I suspect Wild Bill’s actual show spent a lot of time talking about killing Indians, not garou, which dampened my enjoyment some.

Grownup Fiction

The Nickel Boys
Colson Whitehead

Elwood’s life before, after, and during his time at the Nickel Academy is rich with detail in this engaging, heartbreaking book. The acknowledgements have links to connections with the real-life reform school the Nickel Academy is based on.

Young Nonfiction

Paper Son
Julie Leung & Chris Sasaki
Read for Librarian Book Group

Not only the story of pioneering (and uncredited) Disney animator Tyrus Wong, but also an introduction to paper sons and daughters.

The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep
Allan Wolf

Wolf provides a good balance of poetry and prose as he tells the tale of the Donner Party.

Gone to the Woods
Gary Paulsen
Read for Librarian Book Group

Paulsen’s memoir of his childhood is rich with language, vivid, joyful, and heartbreaking. Life has changed a lot since Paulsen was a boy and hopefully not as many children lose their childhoods as he did.

Grownup Nonfiction

Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town
Jon Krakauer

Krakauer’s coverage of a “rape scandal” (which really was a lower-than-average series of rapes) is full of things to be frustrated about. New to me was David Lisak’s work on serial rapists and the role of prosecutors in charging or not charging rapists. The women’s stories—all of them—are gasp inducing and the aftermath (legally and personally) is rough. I read this book in a 24-hour period.

Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema
Lindy West

I greatly enjoyed this “objective” tour through modern cinema. Lindy West’s asides and observations brought much mirth to the household as I read.

Translation: the boyfriend heard a lot of this book as read by an up-and-coming Audible narrator: me.

Top Movies April 2021

?5 movies watched?

?April. Where one movie made its own category.?

A pie chart showing 3/5th Good, 1/5 Recommended and 1/5 Rocky

Click on any title to read the full review.

Friends with Benefits

A testament to charisma.

Justin Timberlake and Milia Kunis in Friends with Benefits. A star with text: Good. An arch with text: 3SMReviews.com: Friends with Benefits

Detour

If you only watch one 40s-era movie this year, this should be it.

Ann Savage and Tom Neal in Detour. A star with text Recommended. An arch with text: 3SMReviews.com: Detour

Rocky

Not good enough to be good, but with a certain je ne sais quoi this movie forced itself into its own category

Sylvester Stallone and Talia Shire in Rocky. A star with text: Not great. An arch with text: 3SMReviews.com: Rocky

Pieces of a Woman

It’s a shame how sad plots keep people from excellent performances.

Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf in Pieces of a Woman. A star with text: Good. An arch with text: 3SMReviews.com Pieces of a Woman

Lady from Shanghai

The sun-and-fun noir.

Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth in The Lady from Shanghai. A star with text Good. An arch with text The Lady from Shanghai

Rita Hayworth is the Lady from Shanghai

Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth in The Lady from Shanghai

The Lady from Shanghai

?Directed by Orson Welles?
?Written by Sherwood King, Orson Welles?

The review:

Orson Welles does an Irish accent and takes the noir film to a bunch of sunny locals for an interesting night at the cinema.* Everyone really dug into their characters, none more so than Glenn Anders, who played his part with a sweaty dedication. There were also twists a plenty, and some dramatic visuals as befits the dude who made Citizen Kane.**

The verdict: Good

Cost: Free via TV Time app on Roku TV (But get ready to see the same commercials repeated.)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching all of the Filmspotting 40’s Noir Marathon movies:

Further sentences:

*So much sun and fun! (But that underbelly of darkness followed them, don’t worry) I loved that we seemed to be getting location shots, rather than sound stage shots.
**”This movie is awesome!” I cackled aloud near the end.

Questions:

  • What did you think of the treatment of all the people of color who wandered through this film?
  • What are your favorite Rita Heyworth and Orson Welles movies?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Columbia Pictures boss Harry Cohn told Orson Welles he would never again hire one man to produce, direct and act because he could never fire him.

Also this:

In the aquarium scene, the tanks were shot separately, enlarged, and matted in to make the sea creatures appear more monstrous and loom closer to the actors.

Other reviews of The Lady from Shanghai:

Orange background with a white frame. Text: Personally, I don't like a girlfriend to have a husband. If she'll fool a husband, I figure she'll fool me.—The Lady From Shanghai. Read the three sentence movie review. 3SMReviews.com

Second Shot!

My second shot was early in the morning. This turned out to be a mistake, as I had mild flu symptoms and the copy editing load at work was heavy and also one of the copy editors called in sick. So I was shivering and miserable while copy editing. Still, it’s better than not getting a second dose.

As you can see, I was one of those 15,249 Pfizer vaccine doses.

Here are my various things acquired on this day. The woman who gave me my shot was a bit distracted. Among other things, she asked me what color bandage I wanted and then after I said orange, gave me the yellow.

As it was before, I enjoyed the efficient process at the convention center.