Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

I haven't read Mark Twain since being in junior high school. And now I know why.

I started reading this book with expectations that it would be wonderful; it is Mark Twain after all. But for about the first half of the book, there wasn't much plot, and the narrator simply explains, in painfully exquisite detail, what it is like within King Aurthur's court. Not story, just descriptions.

The story finally gets going about half way in, but pretty much peters out at the end with a quick wrap up rather than a well thought out narrative.

I may try out some of Mark Twain's better known literature in the future, but this one kind of left a bad taste in my mouth.

2/5

The Artist

!!!!

See what I did there? It's a silent movie, so I simply put some exclamation marks!

Huh? Huh?

5/5

Hugo

We saw this movie a little while ago, and I'm just getting to the review now.

First of all, this is NOT something you generally think of when you think of Scorsese directing. Shutter Island, Cape Fear...sure, Good Fellas, or The Aviator...ok. But this is something completely different, and utterly fantastic. It was both visually stunning and wonderfully acted...and I guess to his credit, well directed.

The story is about a Clock Maker's son, Hugo Cabret (Asa Butterfield), who is orphaned and is adopted by his drunkard of an uncle, who also works with clocks. Hugo is forced to ensure the clockworks at the railway station are always functioning, while is uncle is off getting drunk.

Before his death, Hugo and his father are working on a project to reconstruct a clockwork automaton that his father found in a museum. Unfortunately, his father died before they completed it and Hugo views it as a mission to complete the work in honour of his father.

In an effort to complete this quest, hugo must steal parts from a railway station shop keeper, Georges Méliès (Ben Kingsley). The same Georges Méliès who made the film: A Trip to the Moon, among many others. Through his interactions with Mr Méliès, he meets his young neice, Isabelle Méliès (Chloë Grace Moretz) and have various adventures as they try to evade capture by Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) and also try to solve the mystery of the Automaton and its connection with Mr. Méliès.

This was a wonderful, feel good movie that was not treacly at all.

5/5

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

This was a really good movie! So here's the deal: During the Cold War, it is discovered that MI6 (you know the British version of the CIA) has a mole.

Hmmm...kind of a strange tangent here, but other than the head of MI6 just knowing about the mole, they really don't get into how he found out. Huh? Oh wait, I think they found out about the mole as a result of a spy being killed earlier, and as a result the head of MI6 and his second in command were sacked. At least I think his second in command, George Smiley (Gary Oldman) was sacked. Well, they actually didn't really say George Smiley was sacked, the head of MI6 simply said that "Smiley is coming with me." Which to me means that he was either sacked, or there was some strange homoerotic thing going on that they didn't delve too much further into during the movie...Not that there's anything wrong with that.  Ok, never mind, I remembered how they knew about the mole now.

So anyway, before dying, the head of MI6 tells his fears of the mole to the only one he trusts, George Smiley, that there is a mole in MI6. Oh wait...actually, he died before actually telling him that there was a mole, and it was George that found out about his suspicions afterwards while ransacking the apartment of the dead guy.

Ok, you know what? In this review, I'm only about 20 minutes into the movie and I'm already confused about the plot. Look, it is a really good movie, and although there aren't gratuitous explosions or car chases, there are a couple guns that were fired, and a really cool head shot at the end. Spoiler alert!

Oh and Colin Firth is in it!

4/5

Paul

I originally didn't want to see this movie as I thought the previews looked juvenile and crass. But what I found while watching the movie was...that it was juvenile and crass. But I still liked it!

Paul is an alien that is trying to get home...think ET, but voiced by the expletive loving Seth Rogan (There isn't that much swearing). On his journey to get back to his home, he bumps into Graeme Willy (Simon Peg) and Clive Gollings (Nick Frost). The three form a fast, if uneasy friendship, while being pursued by the G-man Agent Zoil, his boss The Big Guy (Sigourney Weaver), Two inept policemen, homophobic red necks, and a shot gun toting father of an unsuspecting hostage victim of the trio, Ruth Buggs (Kristen Wiig).

The movie, despite being a mashup of ET and Every Which Way But Loose actually works really well.

4/5

The Descendants

As many will already know, The Descendants is one of the top Oscar picks for this year. Which kind of tells you what a lousy crop of good movies there was this year. Either that, or Academy is over represented by middle aged women who have the hots for George Clooney.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie and I thought Clooney's performance was wonderful. I also thought that Shailene Woodley's performance was really well acted too. The bottom line however is that this wasn't that great of a movie.  It was ok, but I don't think that it was Oscar worthy

The story is about Matt King (George Clooney),one of the descendants of King Kamehameha, who's wife is in a coma from a boating accident. While in the coma, Matt finds out from his daughter Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) that his wife has been having an affair behind his back. The movie plot revolves around how Matt and his family deal with the fallout of the affair and how it affects the rest of the family's relationships.

There is also a subplot about how the King family is to deal with a large portion of Hawaiian land that they own, which kind of felt tacked on. While I enjoyed the movie, I really don't think that it was deserving of an Oscar nod. But I will say that the performance of Nick Krause as Sid was hilarious! He deserved an Oscar, but for the movie itself....meh.

3/5

Holiday Who Dunnit

It's a good thing that I didn't make regular blog entries a New Year's Resolution as I would have failed miserably and early.  The theme of my reads over the Christmas break was mystery/thriller.  Because it's been so long...a quick synopsis of each will have to suffice.

Enjoyed The Water Rat of Wanchai by Ian Hamilton.  This is billed as Canada's answer to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and that's likely about right.  It's a fast paced read with an anti-heroine.  Recommended.

I was really looking forward to Alone in the Classroom as I was a huge fan of Elizabeth Hay's earlier works Late Nights on Air and a Student of Weather.  However, Alone in the Classroom didn't rise to those levels (for me).  It started out with an intriguing mystery, but then just devolved and never provided the satisfying conclusion I sought.

Once again I was seeking literary comfort in a book by an author I'd read and enjoyed before.  I picked up Guily Plea by Richard Rotenberg.  While not quite as strong as his earlier Old City Hall...it was still a real page turner and I enjoyed reuniting with many of his earlier characters.  My only real criticism was that it was a bit predictable.

And finally, I ready Stronger than Death by Manda Scott.  A satisfying medical mystery with compelling characters.  Worth picking up, but as with the last two--not as good as Scott's Hen's Teeth.

All  in all, these books did what I needed on holiday--keep me turning the pages.