Stu’s Reviews – Page 59

Stu’s Reviews- #262- Album- John Prine

Genre: Album

Grade A

Notable People: John Prine with Iris DeMint, Kathy Matea, Leeann Womack, Allison Krauss, Susan Tedeschi. Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves and others

Title: For Better, or Worse

Review: John is one of our true national treasures. Dylan says he is the existential poet of our times. He has lost nothing in terms of musicianship, arrangements, songwriting and presentation…though his voice is not what it was as a result of neck cancer and lung removal. So- now he kind of growls along. This wonderful album is a follow up to his 1999 “In Spite of Ourselves” which introduced the world to Iris DeMint. At the time, John had just started singing again after his medical battles and decided to do a duets album of classic country music so he enticed his 12 all-time favorite female country heartbreak singers. In my book, it is one of the best albums of the last quarter century. Now he is back with a follow up with a new generation of magnificent female singers and duets. The songs are beyond classic (“Who’s Gonna a Take the Garbage Out – When I’m Gone”) and the duets are marvelous- special highlights are the Susan Tedeschi and Leeann Womack numbers along, of course, with the Iris DeMint duets. Brilliant Nashville session legends to accompany including the immortals Lloyd Greene and Al Perkins on pedal steel. Great, great stuff.

Stu’s Reviews- #261- Film- Woman in Gold

Genre: Film

Grade B+

Notable People: Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Katie Holmes, Directed by: Simon Curtis

Title: Woman in Gold

Review: It seems the Nazis are everywhere these days. Nice little film about an aging American –Austrian woman’s quest to fight the Austrian government to regain a treasured family masterpiece stolen by the Nazis. Available on Amazon through Show Time (you can sign up for a free one week trial), this is not groundbreaking film, but quietly well done with the usual outstanding performance by Mirren. The reflections on these times never ceases to amaze and always feels somewhat profound. Worth a winter evening’s watch.

Stu’s Reviews- #260- Film- Lion

Genre: Film

Grade A

Notable People: Dev Patel, Mara Rooney, Nicole Kidman, Sunny Pawar, Directed by: Garth Davis

Title: Lion

Review: An absolutely beautiful film in every way. A Homeric journey to find his roots leads Dev from his Australian life back to remote India to find the family he was separated from at age four. A disturbing picture of the plight of children in India mixed with truly moving epic story. Patel is wonderful playing against type, the supporting cast is great and the young boy who plays the lead as a child, Sunny Patar, is beyond brilliant. Be prepared to shed tears for this one.

Stu’s Reviews- #259- Album- Leonard Cohen- “You Want it Darker”

Genre: Album

Grade A+

Notable People: Leonard Cohen, Produced by Adam Cohen

Title: You Want it Darker

Review: Brilliant, evocative, dark, haunting….Leonard’s final album is a masterpiece, completed shortly before his death in November. Confined to a wheelchair, his son Adam helped him to complete the album from home. Filled with longing, remembrance, sentimentality, disappointment and readiness to move on…nothing less than you would expect in one more entry to this mater’s lifelong catalog of brilliance. Oh how he will be missed. What a parting gift!

Stu’s Reviews- #258- Film- Fences

Genre: Film

Grade A-

Notable People: Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Directed by Denzel

Title: Fences

Review: INTENSE…The film adaptation of the last of August Wilson’s brilliant ten play sequence on the post war African American experience, this film was written by Wilson and is rightly predicted for many awards. The acting in towering with Denzel unrecognizable from more recent roles and Davis her always amazing understated self. The dialog is beyond powerful and the small supporting cast is superb. I reduced my rating only because I thought it was overly long and very slow at times. In fairness, this is really due to the fact the film is really a cinematic play, all taking a place in a few small stage sets. Brilliant and intense- perfect if you’re in the right mood.

Stu’s Reviews- #257- Novel- A Man Without Breath

Genre: Novel

Grade A

Notable People: Philip Kerr

Title: A Man Without Breath

Review: Another of Kerr’s dozen or so Bernie Gunther books, this one takes place in Berlin and along the Russian front in the middle of 1943 as it becomes clear the Nazis are going to lose the war. Filled with angst and anguish, out troubled hero continues to struggle with the demons of his participation in this horrible regime and attempts to thwart it at every turn and maintain his integrity in the most difficult of circumstances. As always, the setting sand characters are historically accurate and paint an extraordinary picture of the time and place. If you like history and the WW II era –these are really great books in the great Raymond Chandler mystery tradition.

Stu’s Reviews- #256- Film- Manchester by the Sea

Genre: Film

Grade A

Notable People: Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges, Directed by: Kenneth Lonergan

Title: Manchester by the Sea

Review: This is a moving film about death, perseverance and family. You’ve probably all seen the promos and know the basic story. Well filmed, well lit, good score and the directing and acting are quite impressive. This is a breakthrough role for Affleck, continued excellent work from Chandler (check him out on Bloodlines on Netflix) and Williams, and a brilliant run by young Hedges who brings an air of humor to an otherwise depressing story. The characters seem very solid and real and the setting is uniquely Boston and Southie. Excellently done.

Stu’s Reviews- #255- Novel- Endangered

Genre: Novel

Grade A

Notable People: C.J. Box

Title: Endangered

Review: This is the 15^th in the Joe Pickett series from C.J. Box- mystery novels with the protagonist, Pickett, a game warren in remote Wyoming. If you like offbeat settings and stories, these are not to be missed. Box has won every award imaginable for mystery writers and is clearly one of the master practitioners of this art who is writing today. The novels just keep getting better, with great characters and descriptions of the Rocky Mountain culture and lifestyle. Joes’ sometime friend and colleague, the ultra-enigmatic Nate Romanowski, is a character for the ages. Sit down with book one of the series for the winter and you’ll be set for reading for the season..…if you are serial type. Vunderful, vunderful, vunderful.

Stu’s Reviews- #254- Novel- The Paying Guests

Genre: Novel

Grade B+

Notable People: Sarah Waters

Title: The Paying Guests

Review: Very intense and very long (600 plus pages) novel of forbidden love set in post WWI London. Francis at a 27 year old woman (oddly referring to herself as a spinster) living with her 50 something mother (oddly referred to as elderly) in a falling down house that was once grand, before the war related deaths of both of her brothers and then the death and financial ruin of her father. As a result, she and her mother are forced to take in boarders (called “paying guests” in England) to make ends meet. A simple enough story of the times, it becomes much, much move complicated halfway through the book….almost a suspense thriller, which was wholly unexpected. Well written and quite provocative, but went on about a third too long for my tastes. Still, very evocative of the time and place and worth the read.

Stu’s Reviews- #253- Film- Allied

Genre: Film

Grade A-

Notable People: Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard, Jared Harris, Lizzy Caplan, Directed by: Robert Zemeckis

Title: Allied

Review: A different kind of film from the director of Back to the Future and Forrest Gump, this is a love and heartbreak story set in Casablanca and London during the middle years of World War Two. Filled with great detail of the times and the underground resistance movement, it morphs into a spy thriller halfway through. Cotillard is simply luminous- a landmark actress and a vision in 40s wartime garb. Pitt is his usual self- not particularly noteworthy , but a good role for him. Lots of twists, turns and surprises and suddenly quite emotional. I liked this film a lot- a good addition to the recent spate of movies about the great war. The early scenes shot in Casablanca will have you waiting for Rick and Ilsa to appear at Rick’s Café American. Round up the usual suspects….