Saturday, December 23, 2017

Movie: Better Watch Out



A fresh take on a cliche.

This film walks a tightrope and does it well.  It could easily have descended into parody, it could have been predictable, it could have been too heavy, it could have been too silly, but it manges to do none of that.

It flows along seemingly effortlessly and the plot turns on a dime. Often.

Script, direction, cast -- all bang on.

Particularly the male lead,  Levi Miller.  He manages twists and turns of the story with precision timing and leaves you with a sense that he was savouring every minute of playing this character.  I expect he will have quite a career if he keeps this level of work going.



Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Bad Book




I just finished a truly bad book.  I'm not going to give out the name or the author or the title, I'm not that mean.

The writing was not the worst I have ever come across but it was monotonous.  I think the author was trying to imitate hard-boiled detective fiction from the mid-twentieth century and it just did not work.

I admit to just scanning sections because I could not torture myself by reading in detail.

The stupid and totally unbelievable ending, however, really did it.  I felt like hurling the book across the room but didn't want to damage the wall.

Normally when I finish a book I pass it on to a friend or put in the book exchange area downstairs.  In this case I decided I did not want to be responsible for anyone else wasting precious time reading it so I tossed it into the paper recycling bin.