Book Review: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

Author: Alix E. Harrow
Title: The Ten Thousand Doors of January
Narrator: January LaVoy
Publication Info: Hachette Book Group, 2019 

Summary/Review:

Set in the early 20th century, this story is told by the young January Scaller.  Her mother is presumed dead and her father works for the New England Archaeological Society (an old boys club type of place) traveling the world to collect new items for their collections.  January escapes into books and then later discovers doorways that lead her into new universes (it’s all a rather obvious metaphor of books as portals).

Through the doorways and support from some friends (and a large dog named Bad) after her father is also assumed to be dead she is able to learn the sinister secret of the New England Archaeological Society and her guardian Mr. Locke (what a metaphorical name in a book about doors!).  She also uncovers her family history and her place in the world, or more accurately her place in the multiverse.  The book is an interesting enough concept, and I certainly wanted to read to the end to find out what happened, but it didn’t really grab me either.

Recommended books:

• The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation by M. T. Anderson
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
• Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Rating: ***

Movie Review: Rebecca (1940)

Hitchcock Thursdays: Following up on my Classic Movie Project, I made a list of ten Alfred Hitchcock movies I wanted to watch or rewatch. I’ll be posting reviews on Thursdays throughout the summer.

Title: Rebecca
Release Date: April 12, 1940
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Production Company: Selznick International Pictures
Summary/Review:

I watched Rebecca as a teenager and one of the main things I remember about the movie is that I really liked Joan Fontaine’s hair.  Fontaine’s hair is still great, but so is psychological thriller from Alfred Hitchcock.  This is Hitchcock’s first American film the Hitchcock style is compromised by producer David O. Selznick’s Hollywood flair (especially the soundtrack which can overwhelm the film).

Fontaine plays a young woman who unjustly is given no name in this story.  She’s working as a wealthy woman’s companion traveling in the French Riviera when she meets moody and brooding wealthy widower, Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier).  They fall in love and marry and he takes her home to his estate in England, Manderly.  The new Mrs. de Winter finds Manderly overwhelmed by the memory of Maxim’s late wife, Rebecca. The creepy housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson), is especially devoted to Rebecca and strives to make the second Mrs. de Winter feel unworthy, and even suicidal.

Over the course of the movie, secrets of Rebecca and Maxim’s past are revealed with some surprising twists.  Like many Hitchcock movies, when you think about it too hard, the plot doesn’t make too much sense, but you can set that aside because the mood and tension are built up so well.

Rating: ****

Movie Review: Ghostbusters (1984)

Title: Ghostbusters
Release Date: June 8, 1984
Director: Ivan Reitman
Production Company: Columbia-Delphi Productions | Black Rhino
Summary/Review:

I saw Ghostbusters in the movie theaters three times in 1984, and countless times on tv and video over the years since then (often at the prompting of my sister who perhaps loved the movie more than me).  My most recent viewing on the Fourth of July coincided with my first ever visit to a drive-in movie and the first time my children watched Ghostbusters (they loved it too!).

I can’t review this movie objectively.  Despite it’s weird premise, the movie was and remains one of the funniest movies ever made. I’ve always appreciated the little details they built into the movie such as all the visual references to Stay Puft Marshmallows that appear well before we ever see the Marshmallow Man.  On this viewing, I noticed that the music works so well in the film too, both the original score and various pop songs worked into the soundtrack (and yes, I had the soundtrack as a kid).

One thing I don’t like about Ghostbusters is the underlying Libertarian message that comes out in things like the villain being a government agent played by William Atherton who arbitrarily uses his power to bring down hard-working entrepreneurs.  I’ve always liked Bill Murray, but on this viewing I also noticed that Peter Venkman is very creepy.  On the upside I better appreciated the work of Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis as Egon Spengler and Louis Tully. Despite any quibbles I may have, Ghostbusters stands the test of time.

Oh, and despite what you might have heard elsewhere, the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot is really good too.

Rating: ****1/2

Book Review: Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace by Terry Brooks

Author: Terry Brooks
Title: Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Publication Info: New York, NY : Del Rey Books, 1999
Summary/Review:

My daughter is really getting into Star Wars now, and I told her we should read some of the books together. She decided she wants to read the novelizations of the films in episode order.  I remember liking the novelizations when I was a kid too.  Back in 1999, after being disappointed by the movie, a friend recommended this book to me because it was written by a well-regarded fantasy writer, Terry Brooks.

Then, as now, I enjoy the novel more than the movie.  Maybe it’s because it has time for scenes that provide greater depth to the characters and their relationships than seen on screen.  Maybe because Brooks does a good job of providing the thoughts and points of views of several characters.  Maybe it’s because Jar Jar is so much less annoying in print.  At any rate, reading a Star Wars book is fun.

Rating: ***

Movie Review: The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)

Welcome to Muppet Mondays! Over the next several Mondays I will be working my way through the various movies in the Muppets and Jim Henson oeuvre.

Title: The Muppets Take Manhattan
Release Date: July 13, 1984
Director: Frank Oz
Production Company: Henson Associates
Summary/Review:

I saw The Muppets Take Manhattan more than once in the movie theaters as a ten-year-old, and then numerous times on cable tv, so I’ve probably seen it more than any other Muppet movie.  But it’s still been decades since the last time I watched it so my memories of it were vague. I know from reading Jim Henson’s biography that Henson was moving on to bolder visions at the time and this movie was an opportunity for Frank Oz to gain experience directing. The movie’s style is different from its predecessors and has more of a sitcom feel to it, but nevertheless still has the Muppets’ anarchic cleverness and humor.

Because the Muppets never have the same origin story, this movie introduces the idea that the Muppets met at college and after a successful senior theater performance are encouraged to take their show to Broadway. (This movie also features a fantasy sequence where Miss Piggy imagines the Muppets as babies, thus creating a whole ‘nother origin story spun off as The Muppet Babies). Unable to find a producer, the group splits up while Kermit stays in New York carrying out various schemes to get his show funded.  There’s also a sequence where Kermit suffers amnesia that I completely forgot about (hah!). Kermit ends up working in an advertising firm with other frogs who  are clearly all the Muppet performers offering their loving impersonation of Jim Henson saying “hmmm.”

There are some great bits involving a group of rats working in a dinner where Kermit also gets a job.  There are also the requisite cameo performances.  Dabney Coleman, of course, plays a villain, while Liza Minelli and Ed Koch play themselves.  But my favorite cameo is Gregory Hines who plays a roller skater in Central Park who ends up refereeing an argument between Kermit and Miss Piggy.  This movie also famously shows Kermit and Miss Piggy’s wedding, although I remember seeing an interview with Kermit on tv where he said it was just a movie and not real life.  Miss Piggy disagreed.

Rating: ***

Movie Review: Cars (2006)

Title: Cars
Release Date: June 9, 2006
Director: John Lasseter
Production Company: Walt Disney Pictures | Pixar Animation Studios
Summary/Review:

I watched Cars multiple times when my children were younger, but for some reason never wrote a review. Now that I’m trying to review every Disney and Pixar animated movie, I feel resentful that I didn’t write a review because now I have to watch the movie again. And after all, this is the movie where the magic of the Pixar formula became just too much formulaic. Isn’t the cocky racecar Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) learning he needs to be part of a team to succeed just too predictable a plot? And a world where all animals have been replaced by sentient motor vehicles opens up so many uncomfortable questions.  Besides, in real life, I really detest cars.

Well, I guess it was good that I rewatched the movie because it’s not as bad as all that.  It’s actually rather charming. And it was good to hear voices of so many actors who died not long after this movie was released – Paul Newman, George Carlin, Tom Magliozzi, and Joe Ranft. This does seem to appeal to a younger crowd than a typical Pixar movie – because racecars – but then again, there are a lot more actual racecar drivers in the voice cast than I realized too.  So, Cars is no classic, and may be a weak entry by Pixar standards, but it is entertaining enough.

Rating: ***

Podcast of the Week Ending July 25

Consider This :: Money Is Flowing For Big Banks. For Unemployed Americans, It’s About To Be Cut Off

This podcast, formerly Coronavirus Daily, exposes the grave injustice of corporate welfare flowing from the federal government to banks while ordinary working people suffer little to no help

• Anthropocene Reviewed – 3
• Afropop Worldwide – 3
• All Songs Considered – 3
• BackStory – 4
• Brattle Film Podcast – 1
• Best of the Left – 2
• Coronavirus Daily/Consider This – 4
• Code Switch – 3
• Decoder Ring – 4
• Fresh Air – 8
• Futility Closet – 3
• Have You Heard – 2
• Here & Now – 1
• Hidden Brain – 3
• Hit Parade – 2
• Hub History – 1
• The Last Archive – 4
• LeVar Burton Reads – 1
• Memory Palace – 3
• More Than Enough – 4
• 99% Invisible – 5
• 60-Second Science – 3
• Planet Money – 3
• The Politics of Everything – 2
• Radio Boston – 2
• Radiolab – 4
• Risk! – 1
• Science Talk – 2
• Smithsonian Sidedoor – 3
• Snap Judgment – 1
• The Thirty20Eight – 1
• This American Life – 1
• This Day in Esoteric Public History – 1
• Throughline – 8
• The Tomorrow Society – 1
• Twenty Thousand Hertz – 7
• Wedway Radio – 1
• What Next – 10

Album Review: National Freedom by Lonnie Holley

Album: National Freedom
Artist: Lonnie Holley
Release Date: July 3, 2020
Label:Jagjaguwar
Favorite Tracks:

• Like Hell Broke Away
• Do T Rocker

Thoughts:

Lonnie Holley of Alabama works in many art disciplines, visual media and sculpture, as well as experimental blues music.  This album collects music recorded in a 2014 session. His music is rooted in blues with his gravelly vocals reminiscent of Howlin’ Wolf but his performance draws on the improvisation of jazz (particularly on the 11-minute final track “So Many Rivers (The First Time)”).  The result is oft-time weird, but not inscrutable, and evocative of deep human emotions.

Rating: ****

Book Review Maeve in America by Maeve Higgins

Author: Maeve Higgins
Title: Maeve in America
Narrator: Maeve Higgins
Publication Info: Penguin Audio, 2018
Summary/Review:

I’m familiar with Irish-born comedian and writer Maeve Higgins from her podcast series Maeve in America where she interviewed fellow immigrants to the United States about their experiences.  I expected this book with the same title expanded upon the podcast, but in fact the book is a collection of personal essays on various topics.

Immigration is covered with Higgins reflecting on her own immigration experience contrasted with Annie Moore, the first immigrant processed at Ellis Island in 1892 (both Higgins and Moore came from the same place, Cobh in County Cork).  Higgins also writes about the experience of making the podcast when her producer wanted more humor and celebrities, not something she could provide when visiting the fortified US border on Mexico and talking with immigrants struggling in their lives in the country.

Higgins also writes about experiences swimming with dolphins, working with the comedy scene in Iraq, reflections on her body image and preference for the single life, and the way her family uses humor.  Higgins is an insightful, reflective, and yes, funny, writer and I enjoyed hearing her essays.

Rating: ***1/2

Movie Review: The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Hitchcock Thursdays: Following up on my Classic Movie Project, I made a list of ten Alfred Hitchcock movies I wanted to watch or rewatch. I’ll be posting reviews on Thursdays throughout the summer.

Title: The Lady Vanishes
Release Date: 7 October 1938
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Production Company: Gaumont British | Gainsborough Pictures
Summary/Review:

Set in the fictional European nation of Bandrika, this comical thriller features several British characters being ugly travelers as one of their number mysteriously disappears. The film begins at a snowed-in alpine resort, but the majority of the film takes place on a train. Iris Henderson (Margaret Lockwood) is reluctantly traveling home to England to marry an aristocrat.  Iris is hit on the head by a falling planter box just before boarding the train, and in a disoriented state she’s helped on board by an elderly governess, Miss Froy (May Whitty).

When Iris awakes from a nap, Miss Froy is missing and no one else on the train remembers her ever being on board. Iris gets help from a smart-aleck ethno-musicologist Gilbert (Michael Redgrave), and together they search the train and uncover more and more curiosities. The movie expertly ties together mystery with romance and a comedy of manners. Only in the third act does the movie fall a bit apart with a lengthy gun battle.

Rating: ****