Book and Movie List 2008

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Sometimes when you live in a family, you do things you might not otherwise choose to do.

2008 Movie List:

1. Meet the Spartans, 0.5/10. This was probably one of the worst and stupidest films I have ever seen in my entire life. However, there were some very funny parts, including at the very end after everyone else in the entire theater had gotten up and walked out! Hint, if you go see the movie, against my advice, stay through the first section of credits at the end. The movie was a spoof of such movies, but it was a stupid juvenile spoof aimed at the age of someone just younger than our son, who was the one who wanted to see the movie. And aimed at men, not women. Stupid chauvinistic men, I might add. There were some funny parts and I did laugh out loud several times, but the laughs weren't worth sitting through all the upchucking and pooping. My expectations were very low, but the movie managed to be even more idiotic than I had imagined. It started out with upchucking and it continued throughout, and it was always really gross. I liked the break dancing and the yo-mama contest though. 1/29/08
   
2. Persepolis, 5+/5, Marjane Satrapi, based on the Graphic novel, directed by Marjane Satrapi, winner of the Golden globe and a long list of other awards. A feisty Iranian girl grows toward womanhood during times of war and strife and witnesses terrible things. She escapes to Vienna because her feistiness is getting her into dangerous trouble. But there is more trouble ahead for Marjane. The movie is animated and the illustrations are are very different than Disney-style animated films. They are lovely, well done, mostly in black and white, sensitively rendered. The story is touching and important. Striking, emotional, but humorous and understated. A fabulous film, I thought. A few pictures in another post of mine are here. Here is a link to the movie website. Read about the book here. 1/27/08
   

2008 Book List:

1. The Dolphins of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey. 3.5/5 This was not her best book ever and had some serious flaws, in my opinion, but we still enjoyed it. One of the things that I did not like about it is that it left the story to talk about ongoing Pern business without good background, so that it doesn't stand alone and the thread of the story was broken. It would be a much better story if those parts of the book were removed or woven in much more skillfully. The main story was good but had many of the elements of other stories, such as Dragonsong, which I really liked, but Dolphins seemed to be a bit of a rip-off of that story-line. One of the things I liked about this book is the intelligence of the Dolphins, their kindliness, and their willingness to help people even when people fail them.
2. The End of the Alphabet, by CS Richardson. 4/5. This little book is a wonderful read-aloud. The language works well. It is a sad book, and not terribly realistic, but beautiful and romantic and worth the read. It is personal, human, vulnerable, sweet fun, and tearful. Finished 1-21-08