Nick Hornby's How to be Good
The Premise
Katie is struggling with her marriage. She's a good person (she's a doctor after all), she loves her kids (most of the time) and she doesn't commit crime. She does have an ongoing affair though. And a lot of hatred for her husband. And maybe she doesn't love her kids as much as she should. Like I said, she's struggling.
On the verge of divorce her husband (the "angriest man in Holloway")completely changes who he is after a visit to a spiritual healer named DJ GoodNews. He goes from angry and sarcastic to mindnumbingly good (he starts campaigns to have his neighbors give up their spare room to homeless kids) and doesn't think that there could be any negative results (like say, cash and the video recorder going missing shortly after the kids move in).
Katie must deal not only with what her marriage was, but what it now is. And she doesn't know which one she hates more. I realize that this makes it seem like Katie is kind of evil. She's not. But she has her moments and they leave a lasting impression.
The Review
This is a solid little book, much like Hornby's other efforts (High Fidelity, About a Boy, I'm sure there's something else but y'know, they haven't become movies yet). With Hornby I'm perpetually smiling while I read but I rarely belt out a good laugh. It's no small thing to keep me grinning for 300 pages though so that's not really a complaint. He writes like a lover teases you, gently needling without ever offending. It's a tricky little deal but he does it all the time so I guess that's his gift. That being said there were a few great lines. At one point in time Katie is trying to avoid letting her 8 year old daughter (who is all for altruism) invite a weird person to live with them. Katie tries stalling repeatedly and then finally tells her daughter this little nugget.
"Young lady it is rude to speak...when no one wants to hear what you have to say". Beautiful. Simply beautiful.
Also, one must give bonus points when writing as the opposite gender. I never really thought that this was a man writing as a woman. That can't be overstated.
The Rating
Awesom
Now move over Johnny and give Willie the Reviews.
Everything is Illuminated
Directed by Liev Schrieber
Based on a novel by Jonathan Safran Foer
I have wanted to catch this flick for quite a while but it wasn't in wide release in the theaters (if released at all) so I had to wait for the home rental. I'm disappointed because this definitely would have made my top 10 of last year if I had managed to see it. But alas, twas not to be. Alas.
The Characters
Jonathan is known as the collector. Anything of potential interest in his family's history is placed in a ziplock bag and posted on his wall. Grandma's false teeth, Grandpa's old amulet, photos, bags of dirt, whatever.
Alex - mid 20s, dresses like he's an extra in a RunDMC video, loves Michael Jackson and absolutely butchers the English language (he's the translator, of course).
Alex's Grandfather (also Alex) - 70s or so, dressed in classic old man wraparound sunglasses (you could weld with these things), a pinstripe suit and a sleeveless t-shirt. Grandpa claims he is blind and he has his "seeing eye bitch" to aid him. He's the driver on the tour, of course.
Sammy Davis Jr. Jr. - The aforementioned "seeing eye bitch". She is semi-retarded, is very notably not a seeing eye dog in any way, and to top it off she's kinda mean. Grandpa loves her as much as he does her namesake's music.
The Premise
Jonathan is Jewish and decides that he wants to go to the Ukraine to learn more about the woman who helped get his grandfather out of the country before the Nazis arrived and killed many of the Jews there.
He hires a small family company to get him to the tiny town, Trachimbrod, where his ancestor hails from. A sweet little foreign road film is borne.
The Review
This movie is all about the characters. Fortunately they are uniformly great. Jonathan is the quiet but earnest protagonist, but this is not just his story. The grandfather has some issues of his own to resolve. And Alex, what can I say about Alex? He destroys the English language with such proficiency that I want to speak like him just for the heck of it. Here are some samples.
"Are you proximal with your grandfather?" He uses proximal a lot.
"Women want to be carnal with me because I am such a premium dancer". That line absolutely kills me. 100% Awesome.
There are some solid directorial choices made by Liev Schrieber,
a solid actor taking his first turn behind the camera. I was very impressed. Usually a first time director will either go straight by the book or try to be overly impressive, but he just balanced everything accordingly and dialed it up when the scene warranted it. Nice work. The look of the movie was a big part of the success in my opinion. 
Possibly the only negative is that Elijah Wood looks kinda creepy in glasses now that he's been in Sin City. I'll let you be the judge but that was mildly unfortunate in my opinion.
The Rating
Awesome
2 comments:
He writes like a lover teases you, gently needling without ever offending
Awesome
dude you smoke the pole
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