Category: Reviews

Movie Review: Ghost

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews2 Comments

I’m reading a lot lately, but nothing I feel moved to review…so let’s do another movie this week!  I was a little late to Guardians of the Galaxy 2, but much later to Ghost…which came out in 1990 and I watched for the first time last week.  And I guess it’s appropriate for the day before Halloween!

The movie centers around Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze), who dies early in the film.  But he stays around as the ghost of the title, watching his girlfriend Molly Jensen (Demi Moore) mourn for him–which is heartbreaking enough, but it all gets more serious when he realizes foul play is afoot and he needs to warn Molly.  He can’t make contact with anyone, until he encounters Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg), a con artist psychic who is shocked and displeased to make real contact with the spirit world.

In a very strange way, Ghost is two movies.  I liked both of them in very different ways, but they’re not the same movie.  You see, Demi Moore is acting in a heart-breaking tragedy, while Whoopi Goldberg is in a broad comedy.  Patrick Swayze plays off of both of them, adjusting as-needed.  Somehow it works–but it’s a slightly odd viewing experience.  I’ve seen this before, once.  In The Apartment, Jack Lemmon is in a comedy and Shirley MacLaine is in a heavy drama, sometimes literally in adjoining rooms. Continue reading “Movie Review: Ghost” →

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy 2

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction2 Comments

I have a confession.  Despite proudly claiming the geek label, I am not a Marvel movie fan.  I’ve tried–I’ve seen the first installment in most of their hero franchises, and…never gotten into them.  Except: I enjoyed Dr. Strange, and I enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy.  I still never got to theaters for Guardians 2, and only finally saw it very recently.  But it was fun when I finally got to it!

The Guardians franchise seems to be a collection of B or C-level superheroes, and that’s part of why it works.  The misfit group includes “Star Lord” Peter Quill, Samora (played by the reliably awesome Zoe Saldana, formerly Pirates’ Anamaria and Star Trek‘s Uhura), big muscly social-filterless Drax, (sort of) raccoon Rocket and (sort of) tree Baby Groot.  Peter, who had a human mother, has always wondered about his possibly-alien father.  Well, while the gang is trying to escape the creepy gold soldiers of the Sovereign race, the mysterious Ego shows up to rescue them.  He reveals himself as Peter’s father and brings them to his planet…where things are a little too good, while being a little creepy too.

I feel like that’s a muddled and incomplete plot description, but the movie wasn’t really about the plot.  And this is why I liked Guardians better than the rest: I like the characters and the way they interact.  They’re a deeply dysfunctional family who bicker all the time, and yet still are firmly tied to each other.  There’s a poignant moment near the end when this comes home to Rocket (and the fact that they got a poignant moment about the feelings of a trigger-happy raccoon?  That’s skill.) Continue reading “Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy 2” →

Book Review: Carry On, Jeeves

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews3 Comments

I was scrolling my library’s digital audiobook collection, classics category, and came upon P. G. Wodehouse’s Carry On, Jeeves.  My main experience with this comes from a music medley show I once saw that included “By Jeeves” by Andrew Lloyd Webber–so, not much!  But I decided to give the book ago and it was delightfully fun.

A collection of short stories set in vaguely early 1900s England and New York, they center around wealthy Bertie Wooster and his invaluable manservant Jeeves.  Bertie is friendly, affable and idle, not as smart as he thinks, and gets into occasional social entanglements.  Jeeves is unflappable and brilliant.  The stories are delightfully funny if slightly formulaic–Bertie or a friend gets into a scrape, usually involving a love interest or an overbearing relative, and Jeeves calmly, discreetly orchestrates a masterful solution to sort everyone out.

These were so much fun to read, and so utterly British, to the point of parody.  I don’t know if Jeeves is tapping into the butler/manservant stereotype or if he actually set it, but he is the epitome of what you would expect in such a role.  He rarely betrays emotion, sets high standards regarding conduct and dress, and is discreetly helpful at all times.  He has impeccable taste and timing, and a trick of “projecting” himself into a room to appear exactly when needed. Continue reading “Book Review: Carry On, Jeeves” →

Book Review: This Is Not the End

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction1 Comment

I don’t read a lot of real-world teenager stories, but I was super-intrigued by the premise of This Is Not the End by Chandler Baker–mostly because of the one sci fi element in the mix!

As she approaches her eighteenth birthday, Lake’s life is completely centered around the perfect trio of her, her boyfriend Will and her best friend Penny.  But then a car accident kills both Will and Penny in one afternoon, and Lake is left alone–for now.  Because in this near-future world, science has found a way to bring back the day.  Strict regulations mean each person can bring back one individual, and they only have one chance at it–choose someone to resurrect on their eighteenth birthday, or waive the right forever.  So now Lake has to choose, a decision growing only more complicated as she learns new things about her friends–and about her brother Matt, a quadriplegic for the past five years, who has his own agenda in the question.

This was a fast read, very engaging and full of mysteries that kept me turning pages.  Lake is likable and sympathetic, and the characters around her are well-developed.  Will and Penny in particular, despite dying early in the story, are very vivid, both through Lake’s feelings around them and the flashback sequences that take us through Lake’s relationships with them.  I liked Penny a lot, and would love to read a story with a heroine like her.  It’s overall great, smooth writing, with an unusually clear setting too, for a contemporary story. Continue reading “Book Review: This Is Not the End” →

Classic Review: Merlin Dreams

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, ReviewsLeave a comment

I’ve been thinking vaguely of rereading this one soon, and rereading my review has convinced me of it!  A fun note I’m not sure I knew when I wrote this–the author Peter Dickinson was married to Robin McKinley, a long-time favorite author of mine.  I love connections like that!

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There’s an old legend that Merlin never died–that he’s imprisoned beneath a stone somewhere on the moor, sleeping through the centuries.  And while he sleeps, what might he dream?

This is the frame-story for Peter Dickinson’s wonderful book, Merlin Dreams.  He tells eight stories, eight dreams of Merlin beneath his stone.  Between each story Merlin half-wakes, remembers his life or senses what goes on above him, then drifts back into sleep…and has another dream.

I’m fascinated by the frame story, and the short stories are excellent too.  Several have a vaguely Arthurian flare, although I don’t think any retell an actual legend.  But there are dashing (and not so dashing) knights, brave damsels and many unexpected heroes.  There’s a king, fallen from honor and strength who needs a little girl to show him the way back.  Another little girl befriends a unicorn in the woods, only to be threatened by men who want to exploit the opportunity to hunt a unicorn.  Two stories feature tricksters who put on shows for country folk they hold in contempt, only to be undone by their own tricks.  There’s a young prince who fights a dragon, and another, particularly ugly young man, who fights a sorceress.  And woven throughout, Merlin remembers his own life, and strange fragments of other scenes and stories. Continue reading “Classic Review: Merlin Dreams” →