Whatta Fiasco

More bollywood. This one is a mawkish, tragic love story with sticky plastic villains and some gorgeous scenery.

I picked this one because Chiwetel Ejiofor was in it, and he was good, but not a major character. (Michael Caine’s character was much more impressive.) The movie as a whole was better than I had expected, but I tend to be biased against post-apocalyptic stories. This one still isn’t my favorite of the genre, and I’m just as glad to have rented it rather than seeing it in the theater.

Love. And just like most books I love, it’s not for everyone, but I think you should consider reading it anyway. Partly because I think everyone ought to like most of the books I enjoy, but also because it’s just good. William Shakespeare as the all too human sidekick to Christopher Marlowe. And Bear manages to navigate both the plot and the reader through a complex network of conspiracies. Blood & Iron and Whiskey and Water both left me back tracking more than once to figure out just what the heck was going on. No such problem here, but not at the cost of entertaining complications.

[powells]

If you’re a Lovecraft fan and you’ve ever enjoyed a silent movie, track this one down. Really. It’s fun. It’s less than an hour long and the elder god is delightfully cheesy. (Mmm cheese.) And there’s a behind the scenes extra that’s another twenty some minute and almost as much fun as the movie itself.

Hey, Leonidas. You told lumpy guy that he couldn’t be a soldier because he couldn’t fight in a phalanx. But you spent most of your time not fighting in phalanx formation. No wonder he betrayed you. Also, when you’ve cleverly caught your enemy between you and a cliff overlooking the sea and taking advantage of the opportunity to shove them over said cliff? That’s probably not the time to stand around on said cliff’s edge, celebrating and looking around for the rest of the bad guys. You got lucky on that one.

Lastly, it is indeed possible to be too faithful when adapting a comic book for the big screen.

David O. Selznick’s remake of a 1936 Swedish film of the same name, this one with Ingrid Bergman and Leslie Howard. Ingrid Bergman plays the piano teacher who falls in love with her student’s father, a concert violinist in need of an accompanist. They run off on tour together, have a wonderful time, followed by angst and soul searching on her part, and the tragic but inevitable ending. But no one dies, or even threatens to suicide. And the wayward husband doesn’t immediately run back to his wife when his intermezzo departs. Sadly, no one strangles the adorable child.

Scott Ridley directs Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel in an adaptation of the Joseph Conrad novel. Harvey Keitel as the crazy man who pursues a duel over the course of thirty years is surprisingly good. But the film as a whole just doesn’t quite make the mark. On the other hand, we get some interesting dueling scenes involving small swords and sabers, and one saber duel on horseback.

[amazon]

Directed by Satyajit Ray. (If you haven’t encountered his films before, consider doing so.) Set in the city of Lucknow just before the British takeover, two friends spend all their free time (much to the consternation of their wives) pursuing a mania for the game of chess. Humor, pathos, and the courage and pride of a hedonistic poet-king, but no happy endings.

This is the first in a quartet of books, but it’s been getting lots of favorable notice and it’s well deserved. Clean and engaging story telling. Character, plot, and cool ideas. Good stuff. And now I have three more books on my track is down and read it list.

[powells]