My Driving Pet Peeves and the Week in Reviews

[I review the new movie "The Giver," two MUST SEE DVDs "Locke" and "Hateship Loveship" and for you Bachelor fans, the book "I Didn't Come Here to Make Friends," an inside look at the show by one of that show's most famous "villains."]

But First

With the weekend upon us, my mind wanders to road tripping, something Hubby and I sometimes like to do on the weekends which in turn makes me think of my pet peeves when driving.

When we first moved to Washington from California, we noticed a marked difference in driving styles.  Californians drive fast and furious, period, but usually skillfully.  In Washington, we noticed that the drivers either dithered or drove like reckless bats out of hell.

But that's not to say that drivers from both states didn't share some issues.

Here are the things that could cause road rage in an otherwise Zen-like me (you know I meditate, right?):

Dawdling
Dawdling can take many forms. These are the finger up your butt drivers who don't have a care in the world, especially for you. They leave huge spaces between themselves and other cars thus causing an even longer back up than necessary. When you are waiting for their parking space (and they know you are waiting), they take their time fastening their seat belts, they adjust the mirror, get their cell phone out (don't want to miss a call), have a conversation with their passenger, adjust their seat, and who knows what else?  By that time, you have moved on to look for a parking space somewhere else. Who knows how long that person is going to dawdle?  They also take forever to make a turn or take off when the light turns green, and they go just fast enough to get through a light but not fast enough so that you can get through as well.

Letting someone in
Now I don't want to seem impolite, and I do let people move into the line of traffic when it makes sense to do so as in not disrupting the flow of traffic.  But when traffic is moving, can't that person pulling out of the gas station wait his turn?  Why do you have to stop all of us behind you so you can have the satisfaction of feeling like you did a good deed?  Once again I missed the light.

The four way stop stand off
Why don't drivers know who is supposed to go next at a four way stop?  If you are there first, YOU get to go.  If you both get there at the same time, the car on the right gets to go.  How hard is that?  And yet, there we all are and everyone is waving for the other car to go. "You go."  "No, you go."  "No, you go."  I have been known to just sit there because I don't like being told what to do, especially when it's wrong.




Stopping for a school bus on a three or four lane road

(And if you read last Tuesday's post, you know how much I hate school buses).
My daughter has pointed out to me that this driving rule does not apply everywhere, but in Washington at least, if the road has three or four lanes and the school bus is traveling in the opposite direction, YOU DO NOT NEED TO STOP.  But of course, everyone does.  Sigh. (Check your local rules regarding stopping for school buses so that you are not one of those people).

Driving in the left lane no matter what
My mother used to say, "I can drive in any lane I want.  If I want to drive in the left lane, then I will."  OK, but my Mom has the excuse that she didn't learn to drive until she was 65 and god help anyone who drove with her.  But what's your excuse?  If you are driving slower than the speed limit and not passing anyone, you do not belong in the left lane.  Try that in Europe and see what happens.  I'm just sayin.'

Picket fencing
If you are on the highway and you see someone driving right next to you they are not flirting.  They are just bad drivers.  Speed up and pass so someone else can too.

Tailgating
We probably all hate tailgating and we all probably indulge in it from time to time, especially when that dawdler is hogging the left lane. And sometimes I might be that person. Hey, I am not immune to having my finger up the proverbial butt too, from time to time.  But what really gets me is when the tailgater doesn't give me any time to get over and instead whips around and passes me on the right.

Talking on your cell phone
When I see any of the above offenses, invariably the driver is talking on a cell phone.  What is it with cell phones?  Can't people go 20 minutes without having to talk to someone? 

But here is my biggest pet peeve when it comes to driving.

I know that Hubby and I have been married for over 30 years (read all about it here), but why is it when we get in the car, the only topic of conversation is the traffic and other drivers?  Occasionally we also talk about the weather. 

In the old days, we might have struck up a conversation about Sartre and the meaning of his play "No Exit?"  Were they in hell?  Or we might discuss the pros and cons of ear candling. Or whatever happened to David Hasselhoff? And was his show "Knight Rider" a metaphor for cars taking over the world?  

Well, probably not, but I know we talked about something besides traffic. 

But now we don't.  So I usually say, "Will you put on the radio?  The traffic reports are on."

What drives you crazy on the road?

Now on to the Week in Reviews

***In Theatres Now***

 

The Giver

 

 

It's a supposed Utopian world where pain and strife have given way to "sameness." There are no memories. But the trade off for that is that everything is controlled. No one has any memories of the past lest that cause said pain and strife.  But one young person is given the "job" of receiving the memories of what once was from "The Giver."

In this "community," there is no suffering, hunger, war, and also no color, music, or love. Everything is controlled by "the Elders." At the age of maturity, all young people say goodbye to their childhoods and are given their life's work in a ceremony.  Jonas (Brenton Thwaite, who played the Prince in "Maleficent") is chosen as "The Receiver," a special status only one person per generation is given.  That means his job is to have memories passed down to him from the receiver before him - The Giver - so as to have the knowledge from the past in order to advise "The Elders."

As The Giver (Jeff Bridges) passes his memories to Jonas, Jonas starts to feel emotions, especially for Fiona (Odeya Rush), one of his best childhood friends, and starts questioning his family and his very existence.

Thwaite and Rush are a charming couple and young actors to watch.  Meryl Streep, looking very much like Holly Hunter in the fantastic TV mini-series "Top of the Lake" and a hardly recognizable, dark-haired Taylor Swift round out the cast with not much to do.

Based on the Newbery award winning book by Lois Lowry, which is on practically every middle school reading list, it is reminiscent of "Divergent," another book that shares similarities. The movie version of "Divergent" came first, but Lowry's book came first so one wonders about how derivative "Divergent" is.

This film was 18 years in the making. In an interview, Jeff Bridges (The Giver) shared that he had optioned this book to star his father, Lloyd Bridges (Baby Boomers, remember "Sea Hunt?"), as The Giver, but he died before he could produce the film and then Jeff was old enough to play The Giver himself.

Basically, the story explores the question: would you give up your freedom to love and feel and the memories of humanity's accomplishments even if that meant you would feel pain for a life where you no longer feared death, felt emotional pain or the memories of war and hatred? 

To illustrate the lack of color and choice, the movie starts out in black and white, but Jonas has the gift and starts seeing colors.  As his apprenticeship with The Giver progresses, his world opens up more and more. As the colors start coming for Jonas, we are reminded of Dorothy's entrance into Oz and the movie "Pleasantville."

The soundtrack was melodramatic and the story far-fetched at times (for example, how do you keep memories at bay by a physical boundary?), but it's still a compelling story that will keep your interest.

I am wondering if our middle schoolers will now be watching this movie instead of reading the book as they do with most book assignments.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you liked "The Hunger Games" and "Divergent" or are a fan of this book, you will like this film.

***DVDS***

You Might Have Missed

(And Some You Will Be Glad You Did)

 

Locke (2013)

 

 

Tom Hardy plays Ivan Locke, a happily married family man and successful construction manager who makes the decision one night after work to leave everything behind and take a fateful 90-minute drive.

 

The usually reliable Ivan leaves behind the supervision of the biggest concrete pour Europe has ever seen and the plans he had to watch a football match with his wife and two kids to travel from Wales to London to do "what's right."  As he makes the 90 minute journey in his BMW, he makes and takes phone calls (hands free, of course, this is England) to try to sort everything out.  Phone call by phone call it is slowly revealed why he is making this journey and the price he is paying.  He calls his work colleagues to try to make sure everything will run smoothly in the morning and he has to deal with all kinds of screw ups.  But the biggest screw up is the one he is traveling to fix and that will ultimately probably cost him his marriage and life as he knows it.

Tom Hardy follows up his stint as Bane in "The Dark Knight Rises" with this tour de force piece about a man literally being driven to his breaking point.

Director Steven Knight, who wrote "Eastern Promises" and "Dirty Pretty Things" directs his own script, only his second directorial stint ("Hummingbird" was his first).

 

It's a risky film in that it's just Hardy in the car in real time.  But Hardy gives an incredible performance of a man trying to do what he thinks is right and slowly unraveling.  This film will stay with you.

 

Rosy the Reviewer says...a wild, haunting and riveting ride.

Hateship Loveship (2013)

 

Johanna Perry (Kristen Wiig) has worked as a housemaid/cleaner/caregiver in a sheltered environment since she was 15.  But when she moves to Iowa to care for Mr. McCauley (Nick Nolte) and his teen-aged granddaughter, Sabitha (Haile Steinfeld), she finds love in a most unusual way.

Johanna has lived such a sheltered life that she lives life with no expression, no seeming feelings about much. Guy Pearce plays Ken, Sabitha's father, who has spent time in prison for killing Sabitha's mother in a drunken car crash.  When Johanna meets Ken and accompanies Sabitha and him to dinner, he is kind to her and something stirs in her, something you can tell hasn't happened to her before.  When Ken returns to Chicago, where he is fixing up an old motel, Johanna writes him a thank you note. However, her note is waylaid by Sabitha and her friend Edith (Sami Gayle) and they concoct a cruel joke, writing her back as Ken and then telling her they should correspond via email.  There is a sweet scene where Johanna, who knows nothing about computers, goes to the library to set up an email account and naturally a very kind librarian helps her with it.

Ken knows nothing of this, holed up in his seedy motel doing drugs with his girlfriend played by Jennifer Jason Leigh.  And can I ask?  What happened to Jennifer Jason Leigh's career?  Remember "Last Exit to Brooklyn," "Single White Female" and "Georgia?"  Her career was on a roll.  What happened? She should be playing leading roles these days. Over the years, her career choices have been sketchy.

Based on short story by Alice Munro, this is a spare piece that captures the awkwardness Johanna feels as she makes her way in a world strange to her.  The film is punctuated by old country songs from Tammy Wynette and George Jones which add a nostalgic, romantic, but slightly edgy feel to the film (Wynette and Jones were once married and it wasn't pretty).

I was not a fan of Wiig in previous films ("Girl Most Likely").  For some reason, I couldn't get over her SNL characters and had a hard time accepting her as a serious actress.  But here, she plays Johanna in a quiet, understated way - she barely speaks - and it is mesmerizing.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you are not expecting "Bridesmaids," you will be rewarded by a poignant performance by Wiig.
 

 

 

***Book of the Week***

 

If you are not a Bachelor fan, you can stop reading here, and I will see you Tuesday. 
Otherwise, fasten your seat belts, Bachelor fans.  This is juicy.

 

I Didn't Come Here to Make Friends by Courtney Robertson (2014)

 

 

Robertson was the "villain" of Season 16 of "The Bachelor," - there always has to be a villain - with that guy with the floppy hair, Ben Flajnik, and she dishes the dirt on Ben and the show - and Ben was not happy about it. 

 

The Arizona-born model was arguably the most hated of all "Bachelor" contestants in "Bachelor" history.  Her book contains a lot of "I'm not really as bad as I seemed on the show" or "I shouldn't have said that," but despite her mea culpas, she can't hide her snarkiness here.  She also contends she had no idea she was being cast as the villain and her scenes were edited to show that.

 

But the behind the scenes tidbits are fun.  Yes, they "did it" when they went skinny dipping in the ocean, yes, they "did it" in the fantasy suite.  It included ripping each other's clothes off and doing every position under the sun. 

 

There is quite a bit of sex on "The Bachelor."  Basically, producers of the show estimate that the Bachelor contestants have sex with at least three of the women, on average.

 

Courtney won the day with a proposal from Ben but when the cameras stopped rolling, so did their romance.  Supposedly, Courtney was offered a spot on "Dancing with the Stars," but Ben said absolutely not.  It went downhill from there.

 

Rosy the Reviewer says...for hardcore "Bachelor" fans and those who wonder what the hell it's all about.

 

 

That's it for this week!

Thanks for reading!

See you Tuesday for

 

"Kim Kardashian's Butt, or

Things that are Overrated!" 

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Check your local library for DVDs and books mentioned.

Note:  Next time you are wondering whether or not to watch a particular film, check out my reviews on IMDB (The International Movie Database). 

Here is a quick link to get to all of them.  Choose the film you are interested in and then scroll down the list of reviewers to find "Rosy the Reviewer."
 

Or you can go directly to IMDB.  

Find the page for the movie, click on "Explore More" on the right side panel and then scroll down to "External Reviews."  Look for "Rosy the Reviewer" on the list. Or if you are using a mobile device, look for "Critics Reviews." Click on that and you will find me alphabetically under "Rosy the Reviewer."

 

Stuff That Should NOT Happen

Something happened last night that made me think there are some things that just should not happen.

Last night I was innocently standing in the kitchen surrounded by my loved ones - my husband and three dogs - when all of a sudden I felt this sharp pain in my leg.  I looked down and saw a puncture wound and blood.  I realized I had been in the middle of a skirmish between my beloved little toy poodle and our collie.  The poodle was trying to wrest a plastic carton containing the dregs of potato salad from the collie and in so doing I had unwittingly become part of the argument and my beloved little poodle had sunk his choppers into my leg. 

He looks very innocent here.

I know it was the poodle because the plastic carton was missing and he was now under the dining room chair.  I could see the tuft of his tail peeking out from under it. And it was wagging. 

My leg hurt, but what hurt most was the reality that he was really a dog, not my new little son who would take the pain of the empty nest away.  I realized when push came to shove he would always choose the plastic carton with the remnants of potato salad in it over me, no matter how many times he sits on my lap or acts happy to see me when I come home or how many times I give him a slug of wine, and that if I get in the way, my leg will be toast.

That just shouldn’t happen.

 

So I started to think about other stuff that should not happen like…

• School buses.  They should not be allowed to operate when I am out doing errands or in a hurry to get somewhere.  I know the little tykes need to get to school but we adults have enough stress to deal with besides sitting  behind a stopped school bus waiting for a mom to wind up her chatty conversation with the bus driver when we are late and we are trying to get to a meeting or happy hour somewhere. Those buses seem to be on the road at all hours of the day and especially when I am out there with them. Why can’t these kids walk to school?  I had to.

• Gaining weight just because we are getting old. We should not gain weight just because we are a few years older.  We may be eating right and not making any changes to our diet at all, but whether we like it or not, at each additional decade to our lives, another decade of pounds will likely appear because our metabolism slows down in direct ratio to our age going up.  Now, I guess there are those of you out there who saw that coming and made the necessary adjustments to your calorie intake.  Well, good for you.  But how much fun is that?  It's bad enough getting old.  Can't we take our rocky road ice cream on the journey with us? 

• Bad grammar.  I know it's probably too late to care, but what in hell has happened to our use of the English language?  Don't we speak English and didn't we learn the nuances of its use in practically 10 years of schooling? So why can't we speak it then?  Why don't we know the difference between "less" and "fewer?"  Why do we say "your" when we mean "you're?"  Why don't we use "to" and "too" correctly? Why is it so difficult to tell the difference between "there," "their" and "they're?"  And if you want to be taken seriously, don't say you want to be taken serious. And why the hell can't we spell?  It's a crime.  My mother's parents were Swedish immigrants but my mother is partly responsible for my command of the English language.  She was a stickler on that.  


• On a more serious note and speaking of my mother - Warehousing old people. That should not happen. My son is a real tease.  He loves to pick out old peoples' homes for me.  Once when we were walking around Lake Merritt in Oakland (CA), he noticed one called The Rose of Sharon and said, "That looks like a nice place, Mom."  Thanks.  It's a bit of a joke now, but it's not going to be funny in a few years.  I am not talking about people who choose assisted living and have the means to be taken care of.  I'm talking about not having the means and ending up in a nursing home, sharing a room with a stranger, being taken care of by people who couldn't care less and ending your days with no dignity.  That happened to my mother. 





       I am privileged now to live in a county that has services to help people
       "age in place" and that is what all of us deserve.  Because of my mother,
       I am motivated to volunteer my time working on issues that affect the
       aged. I am a member of the Council on Aging and think of my mother
       every day and how I can help people live their best lives to the very end.
       No one should have to be put somewhere he or she doesn't want to be
       because no one wants the trouble of caring for them. That would be heresy
       in some countries where being old is revered.  Here, not so much. Here we
       become invisible after 50.  That shouldn't happen.




My Mother at 86
• And here is my library plug.  Libraries should not have to cut hours or close branches, ever. Cutting library hours or worse yet, closing libraries not only shouldn’t happen, it is a travesty and a blow to democracy. Equal access to information is a basic right in a democratic society. Not everyone can buy books, newspapers, rent DVDs, subscribe to magazines, go to the movie theatre.  Not everyone has a computer and Internet access.  And every child does not have a quiet environment in which to study. Public libraries level the playing field.  Use of public libraries is free and not limited by race, religion, income, age, disability or education. Libraries should be supported, especially now when libraries are needed more than ever in these tough times.


• I could go on and on about stuff that should not happen.  Leaving cabinet doors open in the kitchen, putting something down the garbage disposal and then it gets stopped up and you have to call a plumber, thunderstorms when you have a stair walk planned, people picket fencing when driving on the highway (Hubby's term for one car in the left lane, one in the right and they are driving as if they are walking hand in hand and no one can get by them), mornings (I hate getting up). 



• Oh, and this probably shouldn't happen either.



 
 




 
 I take full responsibility.
 
You may have noticed that I have given you the blessing of a mercifully short blog post.  Well, a short one for me anyway. 

Why? 

Because for the last two weeks I have been enjoying the company of my daughter and her husband who visited us from Virginia and my son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons who we visited in California.
We shared the joys of Seattle stair walking with our daughter and her husband,




went bike riding, played games, attended an outdoor Jeff Beck and ZZ Top concert (stay tuned for my concert round-up post at the end of the summer),





discovered a great new restaurant (Marination Ma Kai in West Seattle), played games and they cooked us a delicious meal.


 
 
When we visited our son and his family in California, my daughter-in-law treated me to a pedicure and a shopping excursion, they fixed us a lovely dinner, we dined out and we enjoyed playing with our grandsons, especially feeding the ducks. 









A highlight was playing Apples to Apples and letting the three year old take part.  He can't read yet and probably doesn't understand the sarcasm, metaphors and humor that can make up that game, but he almost beat us!  We now could write the family version for all ages!


 

 
So instead of writing my blog, I have been basking in the joys that my family can bring.  Talking, hanging out, playing with the grandchildren, sharing our lives.
And that's the stuff that SHOULD happen.


 
 


Thanks for Reading!

See you Friday for
 
"My Driving Pet Peeves"

and

The Week in Reviews






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Email it to your friends and
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Dressing Well on a Fixed Budget and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new film "The Hundred Foot Journey," the DVDs "Crazy Horse" and "Memory" and the Book of the Week is Anjelica Huston's memoir "A Story Lately Told."]

But First

One thing I have noticed since I retired is that I look like hell most of the time.

But it's not my fault.  I just don't have the money to spend on clothes anymore.

Well, I also have gotten so lazy that it's all I can do to put on sweats.  But I really do want to look good.  I really do.

So how do I look good on a limited clothing budget? 


Here are some things I have discovered.

• Forever 21 and H & M.  I'm not kidding.  Even women of a certain age can find some deals there. They have on-trend duds for next to nothing.  Rumor has it that the clothes are so poorly made they will fall apart in next to no time, but, who cares?  You would hit those stores for up to the minute clothes, not classics you want to last forever.  They are great places for trendy tights, scarves, and denim jackets. And don't be put off by the fact that they cater to the younger set.  Just say you are shopping for your daughter (or granddaughter).

• Buy a scarf or other accessory that doesn't cost much.  It will make you feel like you have something new without paying a lot of money. 

• One word.  Shoes.

New inexpensive on trend shoes can pick up the dreariest of duds.

• Repurpose the clothes you already have.  Think outside the box.  Why not wear that old mini dress (I know you still have one of those) over leggings or jeans?  Or add new buttons to a cardigan or coat.  Shorten a long skirt.  Or better yet, borrow something from Hubby, like this hat.

• Take some of your "old" clothes to a consignment shop.  I have just recently discovered the joys of consignment to the tune of almost $200.  Then I take that $200 to the mall and go crazy!

• Goodwill.  Or some other thrift store.  You wouldn't believe what people just give away to these places.  I have never found an Oscar de la Renta or anything like that (rumor has it that those are skimmed off the top for larger events or sold to the more upscale used clothing stores), but you never know.  While you are there, you can also pick up something for your dog.

I know.  Cheap laugh that I couldn't resist.

What do you do to save money on clothes

but still remain stylish?

Now on to The Week in Reviews

***In Theatres Now***

The Hundred Foot Journey

The Kadam family loses their restaurant in Mumbai and head to Europe to try to start over.

Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal) has a chef's palate from an early age as he learned to cook next to his mother in their family restaurant in Mumbai.  When the restaurant is attacked and burned down, his mother is killed and the family tries to start over in Europe, first in England, then in France.  Their car breaks down near the small French village of Lumiere and that is where Papa (Om Puri) decides to settle down and open another restaurant.  Unfortunately, it is across the street and 100 feet from a Michelin starred restaurant owned by Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren) and she is not happy to have them there nor will Papa let her stop them.  It's war.

In the meantime, Hassan becomes fascinated with French cuisine and is more and more drawn to Madame Mallory and what it takes to attain a Michelin star.  Her sou chef Marguerite is also a draw for Hassan and feeds his desire to become a true chef.

The road that divides the two warring restaurants is 100 feet wide and acts as not just a metaphor for the divide between the two restaurants and their food but between the generations, between youth and adulthood and between cultures. 

Just as Dorothy discovered in "The Wizard of Oz," sometimes happiness lies in your own backyard.

Lasse Halstrom ("Cider House Rules") directs this sumptuous feast of love and food based on the book by the same name. 

Movie fans might recognize Puri from "The Reluctant Fundamentalist," which I reviewed favorably in 2013, and he is a great foil for Mirren, who has perfected the imperious woman with the cold exterior but soft heart.  When Kadam refers to her imperiousness as acting like a queen, it's a fun reference to her many stints as Queen Elizabeth. Mirren is such a remarkable actress that she can express just the right emotion with her back to the screen.

This marks the first big screen leading role for Manish Dayal and he makes a wonderfully sensitive leading man and Charlotte Le Bon as Marguerite is a new fresh face who was delightful in this role.  The love story between these two had a subtle twist and was much less predictable than most.

Rosy the Reviewer says...Helen Mirren, Paris and the gorgeous French countryside and food porn.  How delicious.

***DVDS***
You Might Have Missed

And Some You Should Be Glad You Did

(I see the bad ones so you don't have to)

Crazy Horse (2011)

Directed by Documentarian Frederick Wiseman ("Independent Lens"), this is a cinema verite behind the scenes look at The Crazy Horse Saloon in Paris that claims to have the best nude dancing show in the world, offering stylish, erotic and chic nude dancing.

"Le Crazy" has been around since 1951 when this kind of soft core burlesque would have been ooh-la-la.  Now in this time of nudity and graphic sex that is so commonplace, it seems rather tame and old-fashioned.

Wiseman was given unprecedented access to French choreographer Philippe Decouflé and his staff as they prepare for a new revue called Désirs.  Production meetings are interspersed with actual performances. We get to see what it takes to put on a show like this and the pressures that are brought to bear to keep things fresh and new and please the investors.  But with no narration or historical perspective, we don't really learn anything much about the theatre or the history of The Crazy Horse.

Wiseman is the creator of over 40 documentaries and here has produced a documentary that is neither erotic nor particularly interesting.  It's clear he wants us to take this art form seriously, but it's almost too serious in its wanting to be taken seriously. Remember those Aerobicise segments that used to come on in the early days of Showtime that were more soft porn than exercise?  That's what this documentary reminded me of - close ups of writhing body parts interspersed with business meetings. The audition segment was a good one, but a female cattle call in the truest sense.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you like to look at beautiful naked women, this is for you.  Otherwise, there isn't much more to this film than that. (subtitles)

Memory (2006)

A medical researcher in the field of Alzheimer's pricks his finger on some Amazonian tribal powder and starts seeing things that happened before he was born.

Billy Zane plays Dr. Taylor Briggs who is doing good work in the Amazon when he gets some mysterious powder into his system and starts channeling the mind of a serial killer from years before.  The killer kidnaps little girls and makes plaster casts of their faces before killing them and the killer is still out there, continuing to kidnap little girls.  For some reason the good doctor thinks this serial killer could be his own father, whom he never knew. When he tries to tell his friends and family what is happening to him, of course no one believes him so he is forced to solve this mystery on his own, which he predictably does. 

The movie asks the question, "What if our DNA stored the memories of our parents?"  Answer?  Who cares. 

Another question is, whatever happened to Billy Zane?  He has leading man good looks and is a decent actor, but somehow decent roles have eluded him and he doesn't seem to care either.  But with four movies in the can and six in pre-production, perhaps he will break out.  He's been at this since 1985, but maybe he is just a slow started.

The movie poster makes this movie look scary.  If only.  It's a muddled mess with nothing much explained.

Dennis Hopper and Ann-Margret have roles.  Not sure why they needed Dennis Hopper.  I figured out what Ann-Margaret was doing there early on.  You will too.  In any kind of detective story or murder mystery, I always ask myself.  Why is this character in this film?  When you ask yourself that question, that person is usually the killer.  Pretty predictable stuff.

Sadly, it's not "memorable."  Get it?

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you are a fan of Lifetime Movies, you might like this.  But just remember, there is a reason some movies go straight to DVD.  This is one of them.

***Book of the Week***

A Story Lately Told: Coming of Age in Ireland, London and New York by Anjelica Huston (2013)

The daughter of director John Huston and an Academy Award winning actress in her own right, Huston shares the story of her early years.

Huston came from Hollywood Royalty.  Her grandfather was famous character actor Walter Huston and her father was John Huston, director of such classics as "The African Queen," "The Maltese Falcon" and "The Misfits."  She was raised by her ballerina mother on an Irish estate where her father brought an array of famous friends, from Carson McCullers and John Steinbeck to Peter O’Toole and Marlon Brando.

They all move to London in the early 60's, but her parents separate, which devastates her. But it's the Swinging Sixties and Huston tells of encounters with the Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac. She understudies Marianne Faithfull in Hamlet.  But at seventeen, she is devastated once again when her mother dies in a car crash.

She moves to New York, falls in love with the much older, brilliant but disturbed photographer and becomes a model.

"A Story Lately Told" ends as Huston launches her Hollywood life. A sequel that will take up where we left off ("Watch Me") will be coming out in November.  I can't wait.

Rosy the Reviewer says...a well-written memoir with a style reminiscent of Hemingway.  For movie mavens and Baby Boomers who enjoyed the Swinging Sixties. 

That's it for this week!

Thanks for reading!

See you Tuesday for

"Stuff that Should Not Happen"

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