Queen Latifah and Mo’Nique Dazzle in Bessie

Queen Latifah as Bessie Smith in the film Bessie.

Bessie

Directed by Dee Rees
Written by Dee Rees, Christoper Cleveland, Bettina Gilois

The review:

The always remarkable Queen Latifah gives us a tutorial of blues singer Bessie Smith’s rise to fame and fortune including the usual downturn that comes with biopics of performers. First cast in this film in 1997, Latifah delivers a very physical performance* with a ton of nuance. Mo’Nique also is amazing as Ma Rainey, the singer who teaches Smith the value of performance, and alerts her to the many people who are standing by to cheat blues singers out of their money.

The verdict: Good

Cost: Free. Borrowed the DVD from the Multnomah County Library
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

  • Ma Rainy’s Black Bottom
  • Ray
  • Dreamgirls
  • We are the Best (because I can’t not recommend this punk rock girl film every chance I get)

Further sentences:

*Aside from knock-down-drag-out fights, there is also enough enthusiastic sex to remind you that your generation wasn’t the first to invent sex.

Questions:

  • What was your favorite performance scene in Bessie?
  • Do you prefer Mo’nique or Viola Davies as Ma Rainey?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Charles S. Dutton, who plays Pa Rainey, made his Broadway debut in 1984 in August Wilson’s play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

Other reviews of Bessie:

Orange background with a white frame. Text: I ain't playing second to nobody! —Bessie. Read the three sentence movie review. 3SMReviews.com

An Author Teenage Me Loved

Jude Deveraux was one of the romance novelists I cut my teeth on in the 80s. I suspect I haven’t read this book (it was published in 2002) but I enjoyed how finding this book in a Little Free Library reminded me of that time in my life.

Also, I looked up Deveraux on Wikipedia and discovered that her eight-year-old son was killed in 2005 and that a psychic stole all her money. That’s not a happy ending for a romance writer.

Add Arthur Christmas to Your Christmas Movie Collection

The cast of the film Arthur Christmas arranged in a pyramid with the elves on the bottom and Arthur at the top.

Arthur Christmas

Directed by Sarah Smith, Barry Cook
Written by Peter Baynham, Sarah Smith

The review:

Even if this movie didn’t have a scene that takes place in Idaho, it would be worth watching just for the action movie–style depiction of how presents are delivered using the S2, a googleplex of elves, and a doddering Santa, but what makes it a magical Christmas movie is how that operation is contrasted with a simpler one later in the film.* The story of Santa’s second son Arthur, this film has all of the hallmarks of a quality Christmas film: wonder, delight, sorrow, hilarity, and steadfastness. The worriers among us will love how Arthur harnesses that feeling to save Christmas and those of us who hate wrapping presents will marvel at the elf Bryony’s** skill in a time of need.***

The verdict: Recommended

Cost: $2.99 via Redbox On Demand
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Look out for Bill Nighy’s voice stylings as Grandsanta.
**Ashley Jensen, with a delightful accent
***Three pieces of tape!

Questions:

  • What’s your favorite animated Christmas film?
  • How do you imagine those presents get delivered?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

This is the second Christmas film featuring a title song sang by Bill Nighy. He also starred in Love Actually.

Other reviews of Arthur Christmas:

Orange background with a white frame. Text: And may one hundred percent of your Christmases be white. —Arthur Christmas. Read the three sentence movie review. 3SMReviews.com

Mank: Amanda Seyfried Shines

Amanda Seyfried and Gary Oldman in the film Mank

Mank

Directed by David Fincher
Written by Jack Fincher

The review:

The film that made me wonder if Fincher is feeling old and worn out.* While I can see what he’s doing there with the looping plot and the black and white and the deeper meaning, Herman J. Mankiewicz was not someone I was super interested in,** Gary Oldman’s fine performance notwithstanding.*** However, this is probably worth watching just for Amanda Seyfried, who was excellent as Marion Davies, and it was a solid depiction of Old Hollywood.****

The verdict: Good (ish)

Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99)
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*His father wrote the original script, so perhaps it was the elder Mr. Fincher who was feeling very beat down.
**You can catalog this under: Tales of a Privileged White Man Who Wastes His Talents and is Generally Horrible to All, Volume 3,458,721.
***Although I really wish they would equalize their age-wise ridiculous casting. Gary Oldman was born in 1958 and is playing a 43-year-old man. Tuppence Middleton was born in 1987 and is playing his similarly aged wife.
****You know, when it was just some fun hijinks to have the stenographer sit around with pasties on.

Questions:

  • How many more films of this ilk will be made before we move on to a more interesting angle? (Like say, the story of that stenographer with the pasties.)
  • What’s your favorite movie about making a movie?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

The presenter announcing the Academy Award for best original screenplay to Mankiewicz and Welles at the end of the movie is played by Ben Mankiewicz, a grandson of Herman J. Mankiewicz. Ben Mankiewicz is a presenter for Turner Classic Movies, which frequently airs films by Herman Mankiewicz and his brother Joseph. Ben’s father, Frank, is portrayed briefly in Mank by the uncredited child actor Matteo Menzies.

Other reviews of Mank:

Orange background with a white frame. Text: Irving, you are a literate man. You know the difference between communism and socialism. In socialism, everyone shares the wealth. In communism, everyone shares the poverty. Read the three sentence movie review 3SMReviews.com

When the Starlight Ends Should Have Never Started

Arabella Oz and Sam Heughan in the film When the Starlight Ends

When the Starlight Ends

Directed by Adm Sigal
Written by Adam Sigal

The review:

Sometimes enjoying actors in TV series leads me to really great films made by the actors,* and sometimes they lead me to stinkers. The looping stories in this film made it hard to tell what was the story and what were side bits the author was writing so he could get over his failed marriage.** And Sam Heughan, who has been holding my attention in Outlander, failed to do so here.***

The verdict: Skip

Cost: $2.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home

Consider watching instead:

Further sentences:

*Steve Carell is a good example. He was great in the Office, but I’ve also enjoyed him in Dan in Real Life, Foxcatcher, The Big Short, Battle of the Sexes and Beautiful Boy.
**This film also featured terrible green screen stuff, and I couldn’t tell if that was due to budgetary constraints or an intentional feature.
***And, his performance here may have just diminished my enjoyment of him as Jamie Fraser in Outlander.

Questions:

  • Did you have a favorite scene in this film?
  • This movie was so lackluster I can’t come up with a second question.

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

Kane Knox is the cute baby in this picture.

(This was the only trivia item and I have no idea who Kane Knox is.)

Other reviews of When the Starlight Ends:

SKS Postcard: Spoils from a Small Business Saturday Shopping Trip

One thing about Humboldt County, they don’t lack for quality postcards. Sara reports that their small business Saturday shopping got them in a good spot for Christmas. She says they usually buy when they travel, but since there has been no travel, the money is staying local.

A Few More Houses on the Chopping Block in Arbor Lodge

Since I moved to the Kenton neighborhood, I’ve always liked the swath of houses between I-5, Interstate, Lombard, and Rosa Parks Way. Like my little section of Kenton, this stretch of blocks used to be mostly cute bungalow-style housing with good amounts of yard.

In the past five years it’s become cute bungalow-style housing interspersed with large multi-unit spaces, only one of which has parking. This area is a good spot for multi-unit construction as it’s right on the Yellow Line and a very walkable neighborhood. But without neighborhood regulation of parking, it’s not the most ideal. And I miss the little houses when they go.

This house is holding fast. It’s on a corner, so it won’t be hemmed in on all sides by multi-unit housing. It will stay for now, but that fence indicates that the lot next door is changing.

Its neighbor is not long for this world. This is a 1926 861-square foot house with a 600-foot unfinished basement that last sold in 1997 for $88,500. It sold in March, 2020, for $540,000.

This was part of the lot. It had a big, shady yard due to those trees.

Next door to the little house above was an empty lot. I’m not sure, but I think it might have been the garage for this little house, which is also for sale. You’ll note that the empty lot has become a multi-unit structure. The yellow house was built in 1926 and it looks like the owner recently died. If Zillow is to be believed, the house has sold for $372,500. This has a chance of not being torn down, but I’m not holding my breath.

Next to that little house, is one that I’ve got my eye on. This one is owner occupied, but I’d guess the owners are getting up there in years. This house has a garage on its lot that looks to be bigger than the house.

Here is another one of my favorites, a few blocks down. It’s a 1941 Ranch house (so compact and cute.) It was last sold in 1987 for $38,000. Zillow tells me it’s off market. I thought I had seen that it sold, but who knows. I love the siding. I’m guessing this lot will be subdivided and the house torn down.

One street over, is this little gem, slated to become a multi-unit corner of the block like you can see in the right side of the photo. It was built in 1925, is 932 square feet, and has at 440 square foot unfinished basement. The previous owners bought it in 2009 for $234,000 and it sold in June of 2018 for $650,000. Next Portland reported in 2019: Construct 3 story (18) unit apartment building with associated site work, but that might be those ones across the street. Read on to hear about that project.

Across the street from the 1925 house were two houses that will become the Norway I and II. That will be two three-story buildings with five units on each floor. That’s 30 units total. But not in one building. In two buildings. Why? Perhaps it has something to do with a new law that requires all buildings with 20 or more units to provide low-income housing.

Books Read in November 2020

Picture Books

Evelyn Del Ray is Moving Away
Sonia Sanchez & Meg Medina
Read for Librarian Book Group

Aside from the best picture book title of 2020, this book brings all the feels. Good for a person of any age with a friend that is moving away.

Middle Grade

The Girl and the Ghost
Hanna Alkaf
Read for Librarian Book Group

Supposedly prologues are not in fashion, but I’m glad Hanna Alkaf included one in this story because it was top notch at grabbing my attention.

What do you know about pelesits? They’re a type of ghost and one of them is bound to Suraya, a girl in Malaysa. This book is full of great details and great writing. And then it all fell apart at the end, darn it.

Young Adult

Again Again
E. Lockheart

Another disappointing eBook experience. The ebook page seemed to have a layout that would have worked better with print, but alas, global pandemic.

Even given that, this multiverse story seemed to be lacking something, though I did enjoy the mourning of a lost relationship. There was also a great depiction of a sibling relationship needing to be rebuilt.

Parachutes
Kelly Young

Duel narrator perspective of two girls attending a private southern California high school: Dani, a scholarship student and debate star; Claire, a wealthy “parachute,” a Chinese teenagers sent to attend school in the US.

This book provides insight into a cultural phenomenon I hadn’t heard of and also highlights the unstable footing many young women are on due to all varieties of sexual harassment.

Punching the Air
Ibi Zoboi and Yosef Salaam
Read for Librarian Book Group

Novel in verse about a young man in prison. A solid entry to the genre and written by someone with experience who we all should listen to.

We Are Not Free
Tracy Chee
Read for Librarian Book Group

There are a lot of details about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Unfortunately, there are also 14 characters which made it really hard to connect to any of them.

P.S. The fact that the title rhymes with the author’s last name warms the cockles of my heart.

Every Body Looking
Candice Iloh
Read for Librarian Book Group

The back-and-forth narrative of this novel in verse had the effect of me never latching on to either time period.

Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf
Hayley Krischer

Hoo boy! So many levels of not-cool rape culture stuff going on in this duel narrator book. This made it difficult to read, but was ultimately worth it. A great look at some different responses to different kinds of sexual assualt and a good author’s note at the end.

Chasing Lucky
Jenn Bennett

Bennett leaves the California coastline for the Rhode Island coastline. We join a family where the women are cursed with doomed love lives. Or maybe they’re just bad at communicating?

This is a solid boy-next-door and long-lost-love story set in a small town and includes residents with very long memories.

The Fashion Committee
Susan Juby

One of the reasons I don’t love duel-narrator novels is that most of them don’t have distinctly different voices. Not so here, where we have exuberant fashion lover Charlie Dean and reluctant fashion participant John Thomas-Smith.

This amusing novel about a scholarship contest was a delight at every turn. If only the title reflected the novel’s brilliance. But also: there are illustrations! I’d love to enter a period we we get illustrations in books again. They’d be good for both YA and grownup novels.

Mind the Gap Dash and Lily
Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Three for three in delightful Dash and Lily adventures. This one takes us to London.

Apple: Skin to the Core
Eric Gansworth
Read for Librarian Book Group

A memoir in verse about Gansworth’s life and his family. The poetry was really engrossing and it also came with Gansworth’s illustrations. This will especially resonate with readers familiar with the Beatles and their albums.

Grownup Fiction

Rodham
Curtis Sittenfeld

I think what made Sittenfeld’s American Wife work was that we were reading about Alice and Charlie Blackwell and not Laura and George W. Bush. Whereas here, we’re reading an imagined alternative history about a woman who has had intense media scrutiny since 1992. Laura Bush was much more of a blank slate.

Also: too soon! Reading about the 2016 election in Rodham on the real-life eve of the election taking place four years after Hillary Rodham Clinton lost the 2016 election was hard. I couldn’t sink into the fiction.

Is this a well written book? Yes, because Curtis Sittenfeld is a wizard with words and feelings and characters. Did I enjoy the alternate timeline? For sure! (You’ll love finding out who was elected president in 1996.) Other than that? This whole book felt weird. It’s very discussable though.

Young Nonfiction

You Call This Democracy?
Elizabeth Rusch
Read for Librarian Book Group

Outlines the many ways in which the current US setup of government falls short of democratic principles (and standards that we’ve encouraged other countries to adopt.) More importantly, it has ways for you (YOU!) to advocate for change.

This is a book that is written for teenagers, but which citizens of every age should read.