I bought a lot of Jack Vance books from an Australian book auction. I’ll be selling the rest of the books from the lot in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog, but here are the two books from the lot that are going in my own library:
Quick Review of Hail, Caesar!
March 1st, 2016Dwight and I saw Hail, Ceaser!, the latest Coen brothers film. While I enjoyed it (like all the Coen Brothers films I’ve seen), I’ve got to rank it among their lesser films.
It’s the tale of a 1950s Hollywood studio troubleshooter (Josh Brolin, disappearing into the role as usual) trying to solve various studio problems. Aquatic star Scarlet Johansson is unmarried and preggers, a big no-no for the era. Missing a male star for a sophisticated urban romantic comedy, the studio promotes game-but-out-of-his-depths oater star Alden Ehrenreich. And in the main plotline, George Clooney, the star of the title, Ben Hur-like movie-within-a-movie, has been kidnapped (by, as it turns out (spoilers!) communists).
There’s tons of A-List talent in the film, but it’s Ehrenreich who steals the show. His apparently dim cowboy star Hobie Doyle has hidden depths, and it’s his powers of observation that actually unravel the final part of the film. (And if that’s him doing his own singing, he also has a great voice.)
Things I like about the film (more spoilers):
But there are problems. One is that we don’t actually think any of our ostensible protagonists have anything at risk, and thus we don’t fear for any of the sympathetic characters. But the main problem with Hail, Caesar! is that it’s a movie with lots of swell scenes that somehow add up to less than the sum of their parts. There’s an On the Town singing-and-dancing sailors number so well choreographed and executed Gene Kelly would be proud. (Turns out that Channing Tatum is an excellent dancer.) The Ester Williams water number (complete with mechanical whale) is a jaw-dropper as well; it must have cost them several million just to stage that one scene. Those scenes are so great that the lack of real payoff for watching Naive Commie 101 Bull Sessions is all the more disappointing.
Honestly, I think I would enjoy the Coen Brothers throwing their full weight behind doing their version of any of the imaginary movies in here more than I enjoyed Hail, Caesar! (with the possible exception of Hobie’s B-Western Lazy Old Moon; that did indeed look pretty dire). I like “watching the movie sausage get made” movies, but I think it’s much more interesting watching the sausage get made on a single film.
Another Speed Downhill Mountain Bike Run
February 29th, 2016I know these things are basically “Hey, how’d you like to expose yourself to the possibility of catastrophic injury for the greater glory of Red Bull and Go-Pro?” but I’m always impressed with these downhill speed-runs where they basically clear out half the population of some steeply graded city in South America for some nervy bicycling lunatic to careen down streets, stairs, sidewalks and goat-paths at a breakneck pace for our amusement.
Shoegazer Sunday: Plastic Flowers’ “Diver”
February 28th, 2016Plastic Flowers is Greek-born/London resident musician George Samaras. “Diver” is an aggressively pleasant little song off his new album Heavenly.
(Hat tip: Primal Music Blog.)
Kickstarter for the Sequel to Manos: The Hands of Fate
February 25th, 2016I know that many of you (and by “many” I mean “five or six of you”) come here for news of Manos: The Hands of Fate). (And yes, I have the restored Blu-Ray of the original Manos, but I haven’t watched it yet.) So here’s some news about the sequel:
The previously announced sequel, The Search for Valley Lodge, officially died back in 2014.
However, and entirely new sequel is being put together by Jackey Neyman Jones (the little girl in the original film) and their Kickstarter just made it’s $24,000 goal. They even have Tom Neyman back as The Master!
If you think there’s too much puppet action (from Manos: The Hands of Felt) in the Kickstarter trailer, here’s a shorter trailer:
$24,000 isn’t much for a feature film. Then again, the original Manos: The Hands of Fate wasn’t much of a feature film…
Library Additions: Three PS Publishing Limited Editions
February 22nd, 2016PS Publishing had a sale, and I picked up three limited editions of things I already had the trade editions of.
A Bad Day for Literature
February 19th, 2016First Harper Lee dies, and now comes word that Umberto Eco died at age 84 today as well.
I enjoyed both The Name of the Rose and Foucault’s Pendulum, even though I knew at the time I was probably missing many of the literary in-jokes. The Name of the Rose in particular is well worth reading, as you’d never believe a 30 page discussion of various medieval Christian heresies could ever be so incredibly funny…
Harper Lee, RIP
February 19th, 2016“Harper Lee, whose first novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, about racial injustice in a small Alabama town, sold more than 10 million copies and became one of the most beloved and most taught works of fiction ever written by an American, died on Friday in Monroeville, Ala., where she lived. She was 89.”
The list of credible candidates for the great American novel of the 20th century is a short one, and To Kill A Mockingbird is one of the top contenders. If you haven’t read it, make that the next book on your stack; it’s that good.
Library Additions: Non-Fiction Books from Cold Tonnage’s £5 Sale
February 17th, 2016A follow-up to yesterday’s post, here are the non-fiction books I bought in that Cold Tonnage £5 sale:
Library Additions: Fiction Books Bought from Cold Tonnage’s £5 Sale
February 16th, 2016Cold Tonnage Books had a sale where all £10 books were £5, so I picked up a fair number. This post covers fiction titles.