Candy's Raves (and Rants)

I didn’t care for this book much. I loved the characters, but the story was weak. I had it figured out half way through, both things that happen at the end, so it was kind of a yawner for me. I only finished it because I kept thinking that something big was going to happen, a twist that would make me laugh at myself for thinking I was so smart to figure it out. Nay, that did not happen. *yawn*

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From the Publisher
On a small island off the New Hampshire coast in 1873, two women were brutally murdered by an unknown assailant. A third woman survived the attack, hiding in a sea cave until dawn. More than a century later, a photographer, Jean, comes to the island to shoot a photo-essay about the legendary crime. Immersing herself in accounts of the lives of the fishermen’s wives who were its victims, she becomes obsessed with the barrenness of these women’s days: the ardor-killing labor, the long stretches of loneliness, the maddening relentless winds that threatened to scour them off the rocky island. How could a marriage survive those privations? Was this misery connected to the killings? Jean’s marriage is enduring heavy weather of its own. On the boat she has chartered for this project, she and her husband are falling apart. Their nights are full of drink and terrible silences, and Jean feels jealousy and distrust invading her life and her work. The forces that blasted the island a century earlier come alive inside Jean, bringing her to the verge of actions she never dreamed herself capable of – with no idea whether her choices will destroy all she has ever valued or bring her safely home.

I dunno what I was expecting out of this movie, but It was just “okay” for me. I am, by no means, downplaying what happened that day, but I felt like it was overly dramatic. I’m not saying it’s not an amazing story, the story of those two men is absolutely amazing – and they were only 2 of TWENTY people that were pulled from that mess. That’s pretty amazing in and of itself. It was just a little heavy on the drama for me. I know it was a “docudrama”, so I guess I should have known

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From director Oliver Stone comes this gripping docudrama set amid the rubble of Sept. 11, 2001. Working under treacherous conditions, an army of dedicated rescuers desperately hopes to find anyone who survived the World Trade Center’s tragic collapse. Their efforts pay off when they unearth Port Authority police officers John McLoughlin (Nicolas Cage) and William J. Jimeno (Michael Pena) trapped near an elevator shaft.

1 star (I’m feeling generous). I have NO idea why I ordered this from Netflix. Bad. Just Bad. Bad Bad Bad.

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“Celebutantes” Tanzie and Persia Marchetta (real-life sisters, actresses and pop stars Hilary and Haylie Duff) have it made as the heirs of their dad’s multimillion-dollar cosmetics business, a gig that gets them just about anything they want. But when an unforeseen PR fiasco strips them of their wealth — and, subsequently, their fabulous identities — the sisters are pushed out of the spotlight and into the real world. Anjelica Huston co-stars.

How well do you know your child? How many parents knew their child was suicidal before they killed themselves? As parents, we like to believe we know our children, that we are close to them and that they tell us everything. Those of that remember being teenagers ourselves, know that isn’t actually true

I was up until 3am finishing this book. I could not put it down. In typical Picoult style, there’s the “shocking twist”, but the deeper levels of the book – how much you really know about your kids – is what kept me interested. I have a 4 and 6 year old. The fact that they will one day be teenagers scares the heck out of me.

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From the Publisher

Until the phone calls came at three o’clock on a November morning, the Golds and their neighbors, the Hartes, had been inseparable. It was no surprise to anyone when their teenage children, Chris and Emily, began showing signs that their relationship was moving beyond that of lifelong friends. But now seventeen-year-old Emily is dead—shot with a gun her beloved and devoted Chris pilfered from his father’s cabinet as part of an apparent suicide pact—leaving two devastated families stranded in the dark and dense predawn, desperate for answers about an unthinkable act and the children they never really knew.

Not Ann Rule’s best effort. The main story was too long – could have easily been … errr… chopped in half.

I didn’t like that some of these didn’t show dates or had assumed names of the “players” in the stories – this is supposed to true crime. For instance, I wanted to know more about one of the cases and what happened afterwards, but I couldn’t because I couldn’t find any information – no date, no names. This kind of defeats the purpose of true crime, in my opinion.

Anyway, it was good, just not her best and it annoyed me.

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Publishers Weekly
Prolific and talented true crime author Rule proves her warranted reputation as one of the genre’s leading lights with the 11th entry in her Crime Files series. Two-thirds of the book is devoted to one case, the disappearance of an elderly sea captain from his quiet community of Lopez Island in Washington State. As with many of the stories recounted in previous volumes, Rule succeeds in pulling the reader into a mystery that was largely of local concern. With a novelist’s skill, she brings to life the missing Norwegian mariner, Rolf Neslund, and his difficult marriage to Ruth Myers, who became the prime suspect after he vanished without a trace. Handicapped by the absence of a corpse, the local authorities, inexperienced in homicide inquiries, doggedly persisted over years until justice was won. The richness of this case does have the unintended effect of rendering the shorter sketches that follow-including the tale of a woman beaten into a coma, a murder victim found months after the fact and a young bank robber-less compelling, but few genre fans will complain; the Neslund case speaks for itself, as does Rule’s skill as a storyteller. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Here’s a tip… if your girlfriend is stronger than steel and faster than a speeding bullet —- don’t piss her off. This was a silly movie, but great for if you’re looking for something really slap-sticky to watch.

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Description

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s a bitter superwoman scorned! Fed up with his manipulative girlfriend, Jenny Johnson (Uma Thurman), New Yorker Matt Saunders (Luke Wilson) gives her the heave-ho and moves on with his life, leaving the heartbroken Jenny — aka G-girl — to do everything within her superpowers to humiliate Matt. Director Ivan Reitman’s slapstick fantasy comedy also stars Anna Faris, Rainn Wilson and Eddie Izzard.

Yes, I’m like 15. I love the American Pie movies. They are stupidly funny and the most immature movies ever made. Love them! This one wasn’t as good as the others, but it was still really great…

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Description

An offshoot of the raunchy yet successful imprint, The Naked Mile stars Steve Talley as Adam Stifler, the virginal cousin and polar opposite of Matt and Steve. Adam and his girlfriend decide not to have sex until they’re ready. But when Adam and his friends participate in his cousin’s university’s annual naked run across campus, Adam comes out of his prude shell and learns more about himself than he expects.

Meh. I can honestly say that I didn’t like any of the characters, none of them made me feel anything for them. I didn’t even dislike them. They just were. The story was way to think for such a long book. Anyone with half of a brain could easily have figured out the “big mystery” – yuck. I didn’t like this book. No sir. Didn’t like it. Book club is on Sunday… I wonder if anyone else liked it? Perhaps I’ll update this with their thoughts later… someone had to have liked it, right?

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From the Publisher

Randall Stargill lies dying on his southern Appalachian farm, and his four sons have come home to build him a coffin from the cache of rosewood he long has hoarded for the special purpose. Meanwhile, like a vulture hovering over prey, a local real estate developer is readying an offer for the farm that will be extremely hard for the heirs to refuse as soon as the old man is gone. And at the same time, mountain wise-woman Nora Bonesteel, Randall’s sweetheart of long ago, must bring to light a small box to be buried with Randall – a box containing human bones.

Tom and I watched this last night. We were interested in it because we saw The Prestige at the theater late last year and we liked it. This was interesting because they go in two different directions, but you can’t help but compare them. I will say that I liked the ending to The Prestige MUCH better than this one (which I figured out – Tom didn’t though! Woohoo!)… BUT for overall movie, The Illusionist was much much better.

Of course, I adore Edward Norton, I think he can act in anything, he’s simply amazing. The guy who played the prince was overshadowed by the police officer, who stole the scenes – he did a fabulous job. Great acting, cop-out ending though.

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Decription:
Set in early 1900s Vienna, Neil Burger’s romantic thriller centers on illusionist extraordinaire Eisenheim (Edward Norton), who falls for an aristocrat (Jessica Biel) well above his social standing. When she becomes engaged to Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell), the master magician employs his powers to win her love. His daring scheme creates tumult within the monarchy and ignites the suspicion of Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti).

Sometimes funny, sometimes racy, mostly on the mark – this film is a must see if you are a movie buff. I have said at least a million times that the fact that full frontal nudity is considered NC-17 a lot of the time yet a movie where people die horrible graphic deaths gets an R rating is bogus. It’s just a boob, people. It won’t bite you. Aside from that…

The filmmaker does a great job or exposing the MPAA and the secret society of raters. I found it interesting that so few of them actually HAVE small children, heck one is an aspiring screen writer, for crying out loud! It also spoke volumes when they pointed out that gay films are given NC-17 ratings a lot more often than straight films (the comparison on screen to this was simply amazing – the differences are so small).

I didn’t realize there are no real written guidelines for the MPAA ratings. It seems pretty random the way the ratings are given to movies (I do recall that the latest Die Hard movie was given a PG-13 and that shocked me, most of those are pretty violent).

A great documentary. Go watch it.

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Description

Kirby Dick’s provocative documentary investigates the secretive and inconsistent process by which the Motion Picture Association of America rates films. Dick questions whether certain studios get preferential treatment, exposes the discrepancies in how the MPAA views sex and violence, and reveals the association’s efforts to control culture. Interviewees include John Waters, Darren Aronofsky, Maria Bello, Atom Egoyan, Kevin Smith and more.