Still Alice is a novel about a Harvard psychology professor who's diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. I was reluctant to read it. I mean, how
depressing. But one of the book clubs I attend occasionally was reading it, and it came very highly recommended, in that "You HAVE to read this!" kind of way, so I decided to give it a few pages. And that's all it took. It's
excellent. The point of view is all Alice, the one with Alzheimer's, and the picture of what it's like to live with Alzheimer's is vivid and brilliant. It's also a great story of how members of a family deal differently with the difficulties their mother and wife face. Parts of the book had me wincing because I could so easily imagine myself saying that exact same thing under those circumstances. It's beautifully written, sometimes painful, finally inspiring and uplifting. In fact, it might be a little too uplifting, but maybe that's a good thing, considering that it might help some people deal more positively with Alzheimer's. I don't have personal experience with Alzheimer's, but this novel is endorsed by the Alzheimer's Association, and I guess they ought to know.
The Goonies was one of those movies my brother and sisters and I all had memorized when I was a young'un (although I must have been at least 15, so I wasn't that young). But I remembered all the swearing in it, so I waited until now to let my kids watch it. I'm not sure what the benefit of waiting is, since my little ones are still little (youngest is 4). But I guess that's the natural way of large families--the younger ones get privileges at any earlier age than the older ones do. Anyway, it was fun to watch, although cheesier than I remembered and not quite as clever. That seems to be the case generally with movies that I liked back then.
In September, I suddenly found myself the accompanist for our local high school's production of
Singin' in the Rain, which was about four weeks away. I'd never seen the
movie, so I thought it was about time I did. The kids and I watched it together and enjoyed it quite a bit. I loved Jean Hagen as Lina Lamont (and our local Lina was pretty great, too; both of them! That's a long story). I'm not a huge fan of musicals, but after playing the piano for this, I like it so much better than at first. And since that's one of my measuring sticks for movies and books, I guess that makes
Singin' in the Rain a classic. Like anyone was waiting for
me to say that.
I think the general consensus in our family was that
this movie was kind of slow but also sweet. And by general consensus, I mean me and Jon, because the kids aren't all that critical yet. Also, by general consensus, I mean Jon thought it was slow, and I thought it was kind of sweet. However, I wish the temptation to place the climactic moment of the movie on the side of a very high building had been resisted.
This movie has a non-linear story-telling structure that worked pretty well, I think. Like the poster says, it's not a love story. More a break up story, like The Break-Up. But this one's funny and much easier to watch, partly because it tells the whole story, not just the break up part. I love movies and books where the characters actually learn and grow, and that's what happens in this one.
I was a tiny bit disappointed by the ending of this movie, but then I realized that I'm happy Hollywood didn't impose anything more satisfying or potentially sappy and sentimental. Meryl Streep is incredible as Julia Child. Amy Adams is great, too. It's wonderful to see two healthy and mostly happy marriages portrayed on the big screen. (And I did get to see it on the big screen, which was a nice treat.)
A delightful film about the members of an Egyptian Police Force band who are supposed to perform at the opening of an Arab arts center but end up in the wrong Israeli town. By the "wrong town," I don't mean that they have a showdown with the Israeli Clint Eastwood, just that they get lost. Anyway, it's lovely.
Since I actually became a fan of the Harry Potter books (I was late to that game), I haven't watched the movies as critically as I used to. I enjoyed the
sixth movie very much. On reflection, it's missing a lot of the most important stuff from the book (many memories concerning Voldemort, for example). But I still liked it. I love the mix of normal teenage stuff and life-or-death danger.
Certainly my expectations were not high, so maybe this means nothing, but I liked
G-Force. Will Arnett and Tracy Morgan are among those actors who can say just about anything and it will sound funny to me. But besides that, it was a fun movie. (Again, though, my expectations were pretty low, because the last kid movie I saw was excruciating.)
In spite of a wishy-washy ending,
this is a delightful little movie. I generally like Luke Wilson, who plays a guy depressed for unknown (until later) reasons. He's the new guy in the neighborhood and just wants to be left alone, but curious and well-meaning neighbors invade his life when someone notices an image of Jesus in the new stucco on his house. I liked it a lot and just wish the end had stuck to the movie's guns a little more clearly.