Category: Stu’s Reviews

Stu’s Reviews- #529 Book- “Memory Man”- David Baldacci

Genre: Book      

Grade:  A-

Notable People: David Baldacci

Title:  “Memory Man”

Review:    The first –and origin story- book, in Baldacci’s popular series about Amos Decker; quasi- FBI agent with total recall as a result of a pro football head injury shifting his brain. Decker is wonderfully complex character that you want to work hard to like, though not always easily done. The pot, covering a mass school shooting and flashing back to the unsolved murder of Decker’s family, is tautly written, with great dialog and unforgettable characters. I don’t usually like this kind of bestselling author, but pretty hooked on this series. Got it in LARGE print from the library which is really quite nice.  

Stu’s Reviews- #528- Album- “Die Midwestern”- Arlo McKinley

Genre: Album   

Grade:  A-

Notable People: Arlo McKinley, Produced by: Matt Ross-Spang

Title: Die Midwestern

Review:    McKinley emerged from Cincinnati’s vibrant music scene and shuffled on down to Memphis to record this beauty. Crispy produced by Ross-Spang, who has produced John Prine and Margo Price records-  and featuring a full on crack session band, this album is an absolute throwback to the height of 70s country rock, with echoes of everyone form Gene Clark to Johnny Paycheck, with the ghost of the recently passed Justin Townes Earle thrown in. McKinley’s 10 original songs are drenched in emotion from a wounded heart- some apparently composed in a funeral home parking lot after carrying the coffin of his best friend. The title song features the mantra “never going to get out of Ohio alive” …..which I may be a bit too close to home for yours truly. Lyrics may be a bit dark for some, but the music and production are wonderful.

Stu’s Reviews- #527- Album- “Letter to You”- Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band

Genre: Album

Grade:  A-

Notable People: Bruce and The Band, Produced by: Ron Aniello, Bruce

Title: Letter to You

Review:    Bruce’s’ 20th studio album and his first since 2014 with The E-Street gang….is a magnificent throwback to his late 70 efforts. Reminiscent of Darkness on the Edge of Town……all jangly guitars, deep and sometimes foreboding lyrics, Roy Bittan’s tasteful driving piano and a wall of guitars and backup vocals. Miami Steve and Nils Lofgren shine with the extra guitars and Max Weinberg may be the most underrated rock drummer around. The tunes miss The Big Man’s sax efforts, but Clarence’s nephew does a nice job of filling in for his late uncle. I had kind of lost interest in most of what Bruce has been doing in recent years, but this will catch your attention. Still a master.

Stu’s Reviews- #526- Film- ” Mudbound”

Genre: Film (Netflix)

Grade: A-

Notable People: Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Mary J Blige, Rob Morgan, Jonathan Banks, Directed by: Dee Rees

Title: Mudbound

Review:    Excellent Netflix original from their “Black Lives Matter” collection- telling the story of two poor farm families-one black and one white-  in rural Mississippi after the second world war. This is not an easy movie to watch, and reminds us of how we got to where we live toady with racial injustice. Still, there remains an underlying humanity in even such a torrid environment. Blige does an impressive subtle turn as the matriarch of one family and banks is his usual cantankerous self as the bigoted patriarch of the other. The story line of what is was like for black heroes to come back to the south after the war is powerful and humbling. Well directed-well shot, and worth the tears.

Stu’s Reviews- #525 Book- “A Rule Against Murder”- Louise Penny

Genre: Book

Grade:  A-

Notable People: Louise Penny

Title:  “A Rule Against Murder”

Review:    The fourth book in Penny’s great Gamache- Chief Inspector series, is another brilliantly written novel of life in Southern Quebec. Though the story line in this one felt a bit random and quirky, Penny writes so well, her characters are so well developed and her sense of place………well, just magnificent. The entire boo takes place in a tiny “auberge” on Lake Massawippi in Quebec’s Eastern Township lakes district. You’ll want to go there once Trudeau allows us back in. The setting is based on the very real Manoir Hovey (from her liner notes)- a magical place that we visited may times in the late 90s when the strength of the dollar made such places quite affordable. I’m lining up a reservation for when we can again cross………………and taking a few Penny books with me. Wonderful!

Stu’s Reviews- #524- TV Series – “Top of the Lake”- Hulu- Two Seasons

Genre: TV Series     

Grade: B+

Notable People: Elizabeth Moss, Nicole Kidman, Ewan Leslie, Gwendoline Christie, Created by: Jane Campion and Gerard Lee

Title: Top of the Lake

Review:  Season one was in 2013 and season two came out five years later- dubbed “China Girl”. Idiosyncratic Australian mystery series in which the second season drifted away from the crispy told and compelling storylines of the first season. Moss is Moss-her roles are very similar, but very effective. Christie, who is remembered as the giant warrior woman from Game of Thrones, has a quite different turn here as a neurotic police constable. The story, surrounding illegal Asian child surrogates in Sydney, wanders a bit, but keeps you pretty enthralled to try and figure out what is going on. It’s a totally non macho, and very real life picture of how frail police can be and how out of control in their own lives. Not many laughs here, but well a done series from Down Under.

Stu’s Reviews- #523- Book- “Lush Life”- Richard Price

Genre: Book 

Grade:  A-

Notable People: Richard Price

Title: “Lush Life “

Review:    Richard Price is a magnificent modern American writer-though not for everyone. His books are dark and gritty literary essays on angst driven urban life. Alienation, isolation, loneliness, hypocrisy and manipulation reverberate throughout his work. The Lower East Side is his Shangri-La…. but it’s a fearsome and dark place. This novel might seem like a crime novel on first glance, but it’s really a treatise on city life, alcoholism and despair. None do that better. Price is not prolific- he’s only written a handful of novels in 30 plus years, but his work is worth waiting for-especially if you can get through the first 50 pages. A principle writer for Film and TV (The Wire) his books are like watching a film, crisp dialog and all. See if he’s for you- he’s worth it.

Stu’s Reviews- #522- TV Series – “The Crown”- Netflix- Season Four

Genre: TV Series   

Grade: A-

Notable People: Olivia Coleman, Tobias Menzies, Helena Bonham Carter, Gillian Anderson, Emma Corrin, Created by: Peter Morgan

Title: The Crown

Review:  This quietly superb show amazingly just keeps getting better. The fourth season is a dynamo –with story lines covering the 70s-80s-inlcuding the IRA conflict, the Princess Di shebang and the Mrs. Thatcher years. Lots of turbulence, lots of sturm and drang, broken hearts, deep depression, eating disorders, massive cover-ups……………who knew? Anderson does an extraordinary turn as the pipe- up –her- ass, indomitable Margaret Thatcher. And, Corrin…don’t know where they found her…. but she is Dianna resurrected. And ………Coleman……well she is just top of the heap. Magnificent supporting cat and settings. Nice cameo by original early seasons Queen- the rapturous Claire Foy. We were riveted. What does the Queen think of this series?

Stu’s Reviews- #521- TV Series – “Killing Eve”- FX/Hulu- Season Three

Genre: TV Series  

Grade: B+

Notable People: Sandra Oh, Jodie comer, Fiona Shaw, Created by: Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Title: Killing Eve

Review:  Most recent season (fourth is on the way) of international intrigue thriller with a dark sense of humor. Shaw and Oh are agents of Britain infamous M-6 security agency (think Bond) and Comer is a very deadly assassin for a European underground crime group. Oh is her usual solid self and Comer is a nutcase for the ages as the borderline/schizoid stone cold killer. Their arch nemesis/love of my life relationship is pretty wacko, but Comer is simply brilliantly insane in this role. Shot all over the continent, the plots are a bit convoluted and hard to keep up with, but it is still quite the guilty pleasure

Stu’s Reviews- #520- Book- “The Fallen”- David Baldacci

Genre: Book        

Grade:  B+/B

Notable People: David Baldacci

Title: “The Fallen “

Review:    the ten thousandth listing in this book machine author’s catalog, and fourth in “The Memory Man” series……this stuff is all new to me. I’ve known of Baldacci for years, but managed to never read any of his work…since I generally turn my nose up at NY times bestselling authors. But, alas, the library is mostly closed and getting books from other libraries has slowed to a crawl…so I was lost and jonesing. Hit the living room shelves, where our benefactress had a wellspring of popular books and picked out this one. Baldacci has created a fascinating protagonist in Amos Decker, former pro footballer with head injuries, who is a semi- FBI agent with perfect recall and total lack of emotional response. The story line is pretty farfetched …..as in how may deaths, bombings, kidnappings, sabotage can happen in two weeks in a small town in Western PA….but Baldacci write really well, his characters jump off the page, and he kept me in suspense for a week…so…all in all…worth a shot.