Category: Stu’s Reviews

Film Review- The Butler

Genre: Film

Grade: B/B+

Notable People: Forrest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Directed by Lee Daniels
Title: The Butler

Review –Well, you can tell we don’t really go to movies in Vermont- but while in San Diego on family vacation- we got out of tee hat on a Sunday afternoon to the theater. We missed two other movies we wanted to see (traffic) and wound up with the butler as a last resort. Did not have high hopes, and it’s not a great movie- but a pretty good one. Whitaker IS great, as always, and Oprah surprisingly good. We all found this to be a very moving film of our times- hard to believe it’s only been 50 years or so since this kind of activity in the south. It’s pretty sweeping- as in Forrest Gump- picture of our times and an amazing story. All presidents show from Ike to Ronnie- with real highlights being John Cusack as LBJ and Alan Rickman as Tricky Dick. Jane Fonda does a short by memorable turn as Nancy Reagan. Forrest is Forrest, making it worth seeing just for that

Novel Review- A Trace of Smoke

Genre: Novel

Grade: A-

Notable People: Rebecca Cantrell
Title: A Trace of Smoke

Review –This is the second in a series of four “Hannah Vogel” novels I have read from Cantrell. This is good stuff. Hannah is a journalist quietly rejecting the Nazi assumption of control in Germany in the late 30’s. great historical picture of a world beginning to run amok, and little being done about it. Great characters, good plot, amazing sense of place…and Hannah is a true heroine of her time. Get these books – you’ll like them. I’m starting the next one.

Music Review- In Kind- David Tucker

Genre: Album

Grade: A-/B+

Notable People: Dave Tucker
Title: In Kind

Review –I met Dave around five years ago when he was just starting his musical journey and played a few tunes with him. He is the nephew of my good friends Connie and George, who have a B&B in Vermont and I have dined with his mom and dad. Dave has come quite way. A Jersey boy who went out to California to the promised land for singer-songwriters and seems to have found his muse. Charming set of eleven songs of Americana eclectic music. Melodic, touching and nicely arranged music with quite good musicians to boot. I have a hunch we’ll hear more from young Dave in the future. Definitely worth a listen if you like American acoustic- style music in range of genres.

Film Review- Before Midnight

Genre: Film

Grade: B+

Notable People: Ethan Hawke, Julie Delphy, Directed by Richard Linklater
Title: Before Midnight

Review –This is Linklater’s third in the series with Hawke and Delphy. It started with them meeting on a train while touring Europe in 1993, picked up with finding each other again ten years later in 2003 and now they are married and in Greece for a family vacation in 2013. If you did not see the first two- you probably won’t like this one. These films are intense- with mostly just two people having dialog- and this one has it’s share of midlife crisis-almost painful at times to watch. The acting is magnificent. Greece is stunning and Linklater is really out there in his filmmaking. I have seen all three of these movies by myself which is pretty weird as they seem like date movies- but, hell, I’m just out on a date with me. I spent the whole film fascinated with Julie’s slight “English as a well worn second language” accent- which i finally realized sounded just like my friend Ana in NYC. Slow moving, eccentric and well done film.

Music Review- Dad Country- Jonny Fritz

Genre: Album

Grade: A-

Notable People: Jonny Fritz
Title: Dad Country

Review –Jonny Fritz is kind of like Gram Parsons meets Jack Kerouac…Heard a cut of his on the radio and stopped dead in my tracks- thinking it was a long lost Gram cut. Sounds eerily like him in places- so if you like alt country- you’ll like this sound. Lyrically, well…he’s pretty weird- kind of Kerouac stream of consciousness. One song is called “Trash day” and starts out with “Monday morning is the day they pick up trash, Oh my god, Oh my god”- a lot of it is like this but set to really good Louisiana hayride influenced country music. Cracker jack backing band. Hard to sit still listening to this; makes you want to do a two step. Just plain out there. Loved it.

Novel Review- A City of Broken Glass

Genre: Novel

Grade: A

Notable People: Rebecca Cantrell
Title: A City of Broken Glass

Review -Wow- what a book. If this is not already in someone’s hands to make film noir out of – a huge mistake. She is a really good writer and this book is one of a series- the Hannah Vogel” books. Hannah is a behind the scenes femme fatale living in pre WW Two Europe. This books takes place in 1938 as the Nazi stronghold is developing and the Jews are beginning to become the central victims. Full of suspense, finesse, love and mystery,- Hannah is a heroine for the ages. And an amazing portrayal of Berlin as it geared up to become what it would become. Don’t miss this one this summer.

Novel Review- The Last Policeman- Ben Winters

Genre: Novel

Grade: A-

Notable People: Ben Winters
Title: The Last Policeman

Review –This is my first ever review on demand. My friend, Nate, asked me to read this book- written by his high school friend, and review it. It is Winters’ first novel and a good one if you like a murder mystery set against the backdrop of the world waiting to possibly end due to a collision with a giant meteor. It takes pace in New England in the near future in a world living in a state of perpetual doom based on where exactly this meteor will hit…the countdown is on. The mystery part is a bit obtuse- but easy to read. Interesting protagonist and a sobering description of a world gone slightly crazy- everyone is living out their bucket list in one way or another. If you like mysteries and you like sci-fi- this one is the combination for you. I usually don’t like sci-fi but I liked this. Winters writes well and it’s a quick read.

Film Review- Quartet

Genre: Film

Grade: A-

Notable People: Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Michael Gambon, Billy Connolly, Directed by Dustin Hoffman
Title: Quartet

Review I thought this was a sweet and funny movie about an old folks home for retired musicians in the English countryside. Suffice it to say- this is a much more joyous place than your typical “home”. The ensemble cast really works well together, Maggie Smith is brilliant as ever and Hoffman does a nice job in his directorial debut. Connolly steals the show as a gregarious old man who refuses to give up his boyishness. And the music is pretty cool. When my time comes, I want to be put out to pasture at this place.

Film Review- Renoir

Genre: Film

Grade: A-

Notable People: Michael Bouquet, Directed by Gilles Bourdos
Title: Renoir

Review I adored this quite film about the end of Renoir’s life in the south of France. The film takes place in 1915 as his wounded son is on leave from the war. Renoir has taken in a new model for his lush “plein air” impressionist nudes and she and his son have quite an interesting connection (Jean, his son, went on to become a world renowned filmmaker). This is an absolutely gorgeous film; serene and powerful. Bouquet is a revelation as the 90 year old crippled Renoir. Hope you have an “art house” theater nearby- will be a hard one to find- but worth it to do.

Novel Review- A Year of Wonders

Genre: Novel

Grade: A-

Notable People: Geraldine Brooks
Title: A Year of Wonders

Review This is a boo I almost quit on in first fifty pages; it’s about a year of the Plaque in Devonshire, England in the 1660s. Beautifully told by the heroine feminist before her time in a world that did not bless such woman. The book is haunting, elegiac, and enormously hopeful. With some really good twists at the end. You’ve got to be ready to deal with a lot of death and hardship to read this one- but I found it somehow uplifting. I believe it is Brooks first novel and she’s’ a good one; a war correspondent in all the Middle East hot spots, she was on break in rural England when she came to be in the town of Eyma- which had the true story of being the center of the Plaque and a place that through their spiritual leader cut themselves off from everywhere else for one year to avoid passing on the disease. An amazing story and once you find out it is basically true, in the afterward…even more amazing.