MOVIE - Glass

PG-13 (1:50)

Wide release 1/18/19

Viewed 1/22/19 at Carlisle 8

IMBd: 7/10

RT Critic:  37  Audience:  74

Critic's Consensus:  Glass displays a few glimmers of M. Night Shyamalan at his twisty world-building best, but ultimately disappoints as the conclusion to the writer-director's long-gestating trilogy.

Cag:    4/Liked it a lot

Directed by M. Night Shyamalen

Universal Pictures

Bruce Willis, James McAvoy, Samuel L. Jackson, Sarah Paulson

My comments:  Good move, what I would call a psychological thriller.  James McAvoy was wonderful as the multi-split-personality creepo that he apparently portrayed in the movie Split a year or so back.  Wish I had seen it.  Then I discovered that the Bruce Willis character and the Samuel Jackson characters were in a previous movie together, and this must've been somewhat of a continuation?  It didn't matter because you didn't have to see either one of those to totally get drawn into this one.  I was a little nervous that I was not going to understand, at the end, what we really going on, but they did give enough information to make it completely understandable.  It take place in Philadelphia and was filmed in Philadelphia and Allentown, apparently.   Good entertainment.

RT/ IMDb Summary  From Unbreakable, Bruce Willis returns as David Dunn as does Samuel L. Jackson as Elijah Price, known also by his pseudonym Mr. Glass. Joining from Split are James McAvoy, reprising his role as Kevin Wendell Crumb and the multiple identities who reside within, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Casey Cooke, the only captive to survive an encounter with The Beast. Following the conclusion of Split, Glass finds Dunn pursuing Crumb's superhuman figure of The Beast in a series of escalating encounters, while the shadowy presence of Price emerges as an orchestrator who holds secrets critical to both men.

65. The Good Luck of Right Now - Matthew Quick

2014 Harper Collins

285 pgs.

Adult Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Finished 10/17/14

Goodreads rating: 3.60

My rating:   3.5 Liked it a lot, with one reservation

TPPL

Setting: Contemporary Philadelphia with a foray to Montreal and Ottawa

1st sentence/s: "Dear Mr. Richard Gere,  In Mom's underwear drawer -- as I was separating her "personal" clothes from the "lightly used" articles I could donate to the local thrift shop -- I found a letter you wrote."

My comments: This book was certainly quirky and fun. And funny.  The protagonist, Bartholemew (love that name!) Neil reminded me a bit of The Rosie Project's Don Tillman. But somehow it's impossible to totally picture a grown man of 38 never having a job, a friend other than the local priest and his mom, a vocation, a hobby, an interest... I tried and tried to conjure an image of this poor guy, but to no avail.  My imagination is usually pretty good, but to totally love a book I need to relate in some way and I couldn't. I wasn't IN this story, I was watching from afar, if that makes any sense.... But I still liked it very, very much.
      Here's a quote that resonated: "Back before she got sick, mom always used to say, "for every bad thing that happens, a good thing happens, too - and this is how the world stays in harmony." Whenever too many good things happened to us, mom would say, "I feel sorry for whoever is getting screwed to balance all of this out,": because she believed that our good meant that someone else somewhere in the world was experiencing bad.  It actually depressed her when our luck was very good.  Mom hated to think about others suffering so that we might enjoy our life."

Goodreads book summary: For thirty-eight years, Bartholomew Neil has lived with his mother. When she gets sick and dies, he has no idea how to be on his own. His redheaded grief counselor, Wendy, says he needs to find his flock and leave the nest. But how does a man whose whole life has been grounded in his mom, Saturday mass, and the library learn how to fly?
          Bartholomew thinks he’s found a clue when he discovers a “Free Tibet” letter from Richard Gere hidden in his mother’s underwear drawer. In her final days, mom called him Richard—there must be a cosmic connection. Believing that the actor is meant to help him, Bartholomew awkwardly starts his new life, writing Richard Gere a series of highly intimate letters. Jung and the Dalai Lama, philosophy and faith, alien abduction and cat telepathy, the Catholic Church and the mystery of women are all explored in his soul-baring epistles. But mostly the letters reveal one man’s heartbreakingly earnest attempt to assemble a family of his own.
          A struggling priest, a “Girlbrarian,” her feline-loving, foul-mouthed brother, and the spirit of Richard Gere join the quest to help Bartholomew. In a rented Ford Focus, they travel to Canada to see the cat Parliament and find his biological father . . . and discover so much more.

MOVIE - God's Pocket

R (1:28)

Limited release 5/9/2014

Saw it at The Loft on Friday, 5/16/2014

RT Critic: 32%  Audience:  35%

Cag: 2/It was okay

Directed by John Slattery

IFC Films

Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Turturro, Richard Jenkins

My comments:  I kept wondering where this was going, since they showed the near-ending at the beginning and then told the story leading up to it.  Was it supposed to be a dark comedy?  There were a few tongue-in-cheek places that made me laugh, but not enough comedy to count it as a COMEDY.  Yes, there was a feel for this neighborhood (a real one?  in Philly?), but it was bleak, dark, depressing and filled with alcoholism.  I did think the ending was particularly good, however.

Rotten Tomatoes says:  In the gritty, blue-collar neighborhood of God's Pocket, Mickey Scarpato's crazy stepson, Leon, is killed in a construction "accident," and Mickey quickly tries to bury the bad news with the body. But when a local columnist comes sniffing around for the truth, things go from bad to worse. Mickey finds himself stuck in a life-and-death struggle compounded by a body he can't bury, a wife he can't please, and a debt he can't pay. Acclaimed actor John Slattery makes an impressive jump behind the camera with an assured directorial debut that shows he has a razor-sharp eye for conveying the absurdity, cruelty, desperation, and tragic optimism of the people he portrays. Like life, his scenes seamlessly fuse humor and heartbreak, but it's Slattery's wit and confident style that make the portrait so authentic. Featuring a top-shelf cast and impeccable cinematography, God's Pocket oozes with talent and marks the emergence of an inspired directorial presence.

79. Killer Smile - Lisa Scottoline

Audio read by Barbara Rosenblat
Harper Audio, 2004
9 unabridged cds
10.5 hrs.
$39.95
(HC 320 pgs.)
Rating: 3

Mary DiNunzio, a lawyer in an all-woman Philadelphia law firm, investigates the death during World War II of Amadeo Brandolini, an Italian immigrant who supposedly killed himself at an internment camp in Montana.

Interspersed throughout the story is much blind-date matchmaking to try and find the young widow another love. There are some very funny parts, but it's quite predictable and the "surprise" ending is a little unbelievable...or at least the way it was brought into the open was.

This was an entertaining read, but not an enthralling one. Plus what's with the title? I can't relate it to the book at all....

16. The 39 Clues #1 - Maze of Bones - Rick Riordan

Audio read by David Pittu
Scholastic Audio Books, 2008
4 unabridged cds
5 hrs. 11 min.
220 pages
Rating: mmmmm.....2

The kids tell me that the stories get better after this first one. Plus after hearing Peter Lerangis speak, I'd like to read the 3rd installment, which he wrote. But this was sooooo far-fetched...... I know it's supposed to be, but.....

I began reading this book three times. Got quite a ways in all three times, but it just didn't hold my interest. I didn't care. Two good people, one heck-of-a-lot of really bad people. People that will happily kill and maim. Cruel, sneering relatives! It's just a little too much for me. Trust no one. Right.

Amy and Dan Cahill live in a tiny Boston apartment with their au pair, visiting their grandmother, Grace Cahill, on her huge estate, every weekend. Their parents were killed in a fire when about six years before. Now 10 and 14, they are very saddened when Grace dies of cancer. But at her funeral appear hundreds of relatives, which Grace claim are all part of the Cahill family, the most powerful in the world. After her will is read, the heirs can decide to take one million bucks or follow 39 clues to become the most powerful people in the world. There can be only one winner. In total, 7 teams take on the challenge. Six teams are cutthroat, cruel....except for Amy and Dan, of course.

The first clue is related to Benjamin Franklin. They all travel to Philadelphia, then Paris, looking for the next clue. The plot becomes really absurd, and the things these two children are able to figure out are not believable. Oh well. It's an interesting idea, publishing ten books, written by different authors, all heading in the same direction, with online extras and prizes for the kids that participate. And we DO learn a bit about Ben Franklin and Paris.

And the reader of this audio book? He used many voices, trying to give each of the characters personality. He did a great greasy, slimy version for each, but his accents didn't do it for me. It also seemed he had an effeminate touch for some of the males, which was a bit disconcerting. All in all, not a great 5 hours 11 minutes of listening pleasure.

My question/s....how many of the books am I willing to suffer through? And has the sale of each additional book in the series kept up with the hype of the first? Hmmm.....