Quick Hits – July 2016

This was a busy month for me, but I tried to lean more toward books than movies/TV with what spare time I did have.  I am short one television review below, because I did not have a second program to discuss.  I have actually watched pieces of two shows other than the one reviewed, but I did not get to the end of the season for either one.  Most likely those will be next month’s reviews.  I completed a third book review to take its place.

Warning:  Although I tried not to delve into plots too deeply, there are potential spoilers in the reviews below.  Read at your own risk.

TV Show:  Criminal Minds:  Season 10 (2014-2015)

I mentioned in a previous blog that this was one of my favorite procedural crime dramas.  I have been trying to contain the binging of TV shows on Netflix instant, so I made myself get this season of criminal minds disc by disc in the mail.  I just never tire of this series.  Even after ten years, I still find myself surprised by some of the quirky psychoses they match to the crimes and the twists the episodes pull.  Season 10 is no different, giving some absolutely phenomenal episodes like If The Shoe Fits, Nelson’s Sparrow, and Mr. Scratch.  This season brought a new cast member Kate Callahan played by Jennifer Love Hewitt.  I did not really warm to this character, finding her background too generic to really add much to the team and her personality just not connecting to the team dynamic.  I much preferred the departing character of Dr. Alex Blake played by Jeanne Tripplehorn who brought a linguistics specialty to the team and whose general intelligence bounced off Dr. Reid’s character so well.  That particular position on the team seems to get a lot of transition and it will continue as Kate Callahan was going on extended maternity leave at the end of season 10.  I have heard she comes back for season 12 though, so hopefully she will grow on me as they flesh out her character.  Despite my reserve on casting changes, I still loved season 10 and cannot wait for season 11 to come out on disc.

Movie:  The Big Short (2015)

The housing market crash of 2008 impacted me in a big way.  I was working for a nation-wide homebuilder when everything bottomed out.  The company’s numbers fell drastically, costing many employees their jobs, and creating much more work for those employees left.  Although I did already know what happened to cause the housing bubble and crash, I was curious to see how they presented it in this movie.  I really, really liked the movie.  They took a fairly complex situation and boiled it down to a reasonably understood scenario.  I felt the movie producers hit the right balance between the seriousness of what happened and entertainment.  The cast is all-star with Steve Carell and Ryan Gosling topping the list.  Some of the reviews on Netflix are a little negative on the people who profited from the scandal, but I think it is important to remember that none of those people created the situation nor were they trying to hide the fact that they thought it would all come down again.  Of course the movie has some political propaganda in it, especially at that end.  However, I think it does a good job of getting some basic information out there and reminding people that ignoring what is happening around you is never a good idea.

Movie:  Crimson Peak (2015)

I cannot remember how this film ended up on my Netflix list, but it did.  When I realized Guillermo del Toro was the director, I was excited.  His movie Pan’s Labyrinth is one of the best dark fairy tales I have ever seen.  Crimson Peak turned out to be an entertaining gothic romance, but not quite as good as I had anticipated.  Mia Wasikowska plays a young independent-minded woman who falls in love with a mysterious stranger despite her father’s warnings.  After her father’s death, she marries the man and moves into his family home.  There she discovers that he and his spinster sister have some family secrets that could destroy everything.  Mia Wasikowska’s performance was decent, though very similar to all of her appearances in other recent period dramas.  Tom Hiddleston as Sir Thomas Sharpe (the mysterious man) was the strongest performance.  He hits just the right notes emotionally in all the right places, has the perfect gaunt look needed for a gothic romantic man, and was surprisingly believable in the whole strange situation.  Jessica Chastain as the sister was too underwhelming to pull off the role she needed to pull off.  Bonus, Jim Beaver (from Supernatural) makes a pleasant appearance as the now deceased father.  Overall the film was entertaining, so relax and enjoy it, but do not expect anything spectacular.

Book:  Wild by Cheryl Strayed (2012)

Several years ago I read A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson and absolutely loved it.  It was entertaining and inspirational at the same time.  I picked up Wild by Cheryl Strayed because I thought it would be similar.  It does have a similar premise in that a non-hiker takes on one of the National Scenic Trails, but her execution of the story and truly her intent for writing are very, very different.  Wild is much more a memoir of Cheryl’s life leading up to her decision to hike the Pacific Crest Trail than an account of the actual hike itself.  I found that most of her hiking tales took one of three variations:  life threatened by something, boots caused problems mostly to her toenails, and she stops at the resupply stations.  There was very little commentary on the things she actually saw on the trail or how she felt changed by the experience.  The hiking story is heavily interrupted by flashbacks to her life, mostly negative events that lead to her breakdown, but occasionally happier moments involving her family when she was young.  Overall I enjoyed the book, reading it for what it was – one woman’s attempt to reconcile herself to her mistakes in life.  If providing a recommendation though, I think A Walk in the Woods is the better book.  Neither will truly prepare you for actually hiking a National Scenic Trail but both might inspire you to try.

Book:  Before the Fall by Noah Hawley (2016)

This was my June Book of the Month (BOTM) pick.  It was a pretty straight-forward who-did-it suspense novel.  A private plane crashes.  Nine people are killed, two survived.  The dead include all three crew members, five very wealthy members of society, and one bodyguard.  The survivors are a down on his luck artist who was not on the flight passenger list and the four year old heir to a media empire (his media mogul father being one of those killed).  The investigation starts with a number of possible causes and reasons for the crash.   The book slowly works its way through each of the characters back stories and the events leading up to the crash to come to the truth.  Meanwhile, the media is creating a sensational circus around the plane crash, the investigation, and the two survivors.  The book was extremely well written, and I felt completely satisfied by the conclusion.  What sets this book apart more than anything though was the way the media and celebrity were portrayed.  It was so very honest about how ridiculous we can be about people who have no bearing on our day-to-day lives.  The surviving artist's controlled response to his fifteen minutes of fame was admirable.  He exemplifies what heroism should be but often is not.  This was definitely my favorite BOTM pick so far.

Book:  Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley (1917)

This was a delightful, fun read.  I have no idea how it ended up on my Geekpage reading list, but it is one of the earliest entries into that spreadsheet.  This is a short, breezy read that can probably be completed in a day though it took me a couple (work!).  The basic gist of the book is a middle age woman is tired of her life so she buys a Parnassus on Wheels (basically a traveling book store) and goes on an adventure.  It has a bit of a feminine overlay, with the main character’s claim that she did not have to stay home doing the woman’s work if she did not want to do it and with several mentions of Susan B. Anthony and women’s suffrage.  The story hits a wide swath of topics, covering farming, literature, peddlers, ruffians, and love.  On the downside, it does not have a very deep, well-developed plot.  Plus, it is told from the rambling point of view of the main character which can be a little silly.  It did age surprisingly well; it has some outdated references of course but nothing was too distracting from the story.  I highly recommend it if you are looking for something a little different to enjoy.

Overflow:

Movie:  Wild (2014) – Yes, but the book is better.

Book:  Selfish, Shallow, & Self-Absorbed:  Sixteen Writers on the Decision NOT to Have Kids edited by Meghan Daum (2015) – Yes

See you next week!