Quick Hits – October 2016

As you already know, October is a busy month for me.  I originally thought I might be short on viewing material to review.  I did not have much downtime, and what time I did have I focused on reading.  I have been watching the newest SVU season on Netflix over the past two months, so that was one TV show I had ready.  Then, towards the end of the month, my time opened up a teensy bit more and I was able to rush through some extra movies.  I even managed to find the time to write reviews for the traditional six entertainment items.  Hope you enjoy.

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 Series:  Law & Order:  Special Victims Unit:  Season 17 (2015-2016)

I raced through the newest season of Law & Order:  Special Victims Unit.  It has always been one of my favorite procedurals for times of high stress, and so it was perfect for this stretch of September/October.  This show has found renewed vigor with the cast changes that have happened over the past few years.  For a while, I was really worn out by all the anger carried by Elliot Stabler and Olivia Benson.  The best thing that ever happened to this show was Christopher Meloni leaving and taking his character with him.  It allowed Benson’s character to evolve in ways that were not possible with the dynamic they had built between the two.  Since then we have had more character turnover, and I really enjoy many of the replacements.  I particularly like the new ADA Rafael Barba and the newest detective Dominick Carisi.  Season 17 also saw a great part time addition with Sergeant Mike Dodds, but they wrote the character out at the end of the season so he will not be returning next year.  Episode-wise I felt the season was really strong as well.  As always, we see stories playing along current headlines, including some reality TV episodes, a Catholic church scandal, sexually confused teenagers, and dirty cops.  I found the material fresh, entertaining, and never boring.  I am eager to keep watching, but sadly I have to wait for Season 18 to make it to Netflix.

TV Special:  Iliza Shlesinger:  Confirmed Kills (2016)

Iliza Shlesinger is no doubt one of my favorite comedians.  I loved her first two comedy specials, War Paint and Freezing Hot.  When I saw that she was coming out with a third special on Netflix, I immediately put it into my queue.  It did not disappoint.  I loved it.  Iliza’s humor is all stories, which I enjoy so much more than punchlines.  She interjects sound effects, weird tag phrases, and funny faces to liven up the narratives.  She focuses on millennial life situations that are funny and relatable.  Her material focuses more on relationships than current events, so it remains relevant for long after the initial viewing.  She entertains without feeling the need to delve into sermons or political rants which often just derail the humor.  All this adds up to an hour where I felt like I was hanging out with that friend who has all the crazy stories.  I will definitely be watching again, when I need a night to relax and laugh.  Plus, her shirt is awesome and I really wish I could wear something like that.

Movie:  Laggies (2014)

Although I see some people describe this as a coming of age story, I think it is more a quarter-life crisis story.  Keira Knightly plays a woman in her late 20s, who has an advanced degree, a job twirling a sign for her Dad’s accounting firm, a live-in boyfriend who has finally proposed after 10 years, and no idea how to move forward with her life.  It is easy to judge her as a lazy millennial who just needs to grow up and deal with life.  However, there is a line in the film where she says something like “it was the first a many decisions I let others make for me” (not verbatim).  I completely understood her and could connect with her on a basic level at that moment.  Some of us are so used to going along with what everyone else expects (family, friends, teachers, etc.) that when we are finally forced to confront ourselves we do not know what to do.  At our core, we have never discovered who we are and what we want from life.  While I probably will not make a high school friend, crash at their house for a week, and make out with their Dad, I can understand the process of trying to clear the clutter from your mind for long enough to figure out what you should do next.  She does not have it figured out by the end of the movie, but she has taken some steps to move forward instead of pacing in the same rut where she started the movie.  I really enjoyed this little film.  It was humorous, relatable, and filled with a great cast.

Movie:  Dazed and Confused (1993)

Dazed and Confused is a movie I have watched too many times to count.  It used to be on TV constantly, and every time I saw it while flipping channels I had to stop and watch from wherever it happened to be.  This weekend when I could not sleep, I thought there could not be a better option than to zone out to this movie yet again.  This movie really is not about anything.  The characters are a bunch of teenagers milling about town, hooking up, hanging out, being mean, and getting wasted.  And yet it still holds my attention all these years after I saw it the first time.  I find the dialog humorous and entertaining.  I love seeing the cameos of actors that went on to more fame, and to check back on those that have disappeared from the spotlight.  The movie fills me with nostalgia for a time that I never experienced.  It is out of era for my childhood (the 70s vs. the 90s), more suburban than my hometown, and nothing like my high school or my experience with high school.  I struggle to explain it, but this is definitely one of my favorite movies ever.  I assume I will continue to watch it time and again over the years.

Book:  One More Thing:  Stories and Other Stories by B.J. Novak (2014)

I went into this book with big expectations.  Everything I have heard about it has been glowingly positive.  Plus, it has been described as a written version of Woody Allen’s whimsy, and I have a soft spot for his films.  So does this book live up to the hype?  As a whole, I would say I enjoyed the book.  It is full of quirky, witty stories that make some interesting points on modern culture.  I loved the fact that couple of short stories made reference to other stories, and I wish he had incorporated a bit more of this into the work.  Individually, some of the stories work well, some were a bit pretentious, and others just plain crude.  In the end, I really loved some of the stories, did not like others, and did not even understand a few of them.  My favorite ones include:  Kellogg’s (or:  The Last Wholesome Fantasy of the Middle-School Boy), Quantum Nonlocality and the Death of Elvis Presley, One of These Days We Have to Do Something About Willie, and Kindness Among Cakes.  The most overhyped story is The Rematch, a new take on the tortoise and the hare, which starts the book off in a crude mean fashion.  Combined with the second story, which has a similar tone, I almost put the book down.  This would have been a sad ending given that some of the stories that follow are absolute gems.  My recommendation is to read the book, but just know that not every story is going to work for you.

Book:  Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff (2015)

This book has been on my list to read for a while.  I have seen it come up in a few different recommendation lists.  I understood it to be a book about the same marriage, as told from each spouse’s perspective.  Overall, I was a little disappointed.  Maybe I just had too much expectation going into it, but frankly I found it overwritten and a bit boring.  The first half of the book, Fates, is told from the perspective of the husband.  It is rather haphazard, telling his life before and during their marriage through singular events, snippets of parties, and the plays he wrote.  He is a likable, well-off, but decidedly average person, who loves his wife, and seems to be doing the best he can in his life.  His half of the book was tedious to read, but I pushed through it because I figured the wife’s half would be more interesting once it breaks apart all the husband thought was true.  The wife’s half, Furies, is told through conversations after the husband’s death and flashbacks.  Mathilde’s life was rather unusual and her half of the book was much more interesting as a result.  However, I did not find her story to be all that contradictory to the husband’s.  She never told him much of her life prior to meeting him, but he seemed to care little about this and it seemed to have little effect on their marriage.  She did manipulate his career and their relationship a bit, which maybe was not honest, but it ultimately helped him, so I hardly found it scandalous.  She also loved her husband and just was trying to do the best she could given their circumstances.  I honestly think this book would have been better just as a novel about Mathilde, with Lotto regulated to the role of husband not main narrator.  I also think it could have been shorter, written in a more flowing narrative, and not trying so hard to be a literary experience.  Not the worst thing I have read, but nothing much to compel me to read it again or recommend it to others.

Overflow:

Movie:  Harry Potter and Order of Phoenix (2007) – Yes.  I saw this at the IMAX at the Air & Space Museum, and I think such a big screen is overrated.  It made it hard to see all the details.

Movie:  Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) – Yes

Book:  Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban (1999) – Yes

See you next week!