Category: Stu’s Reviews

Film Review- To Rome with Love

Title: To Rome with Love

Genre: Film

Grade: A-

Notable People: Directed by Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Ellen Page, Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Jesse Eisenberg

Review: Disclaimer: I am a devotee of the Woodman. That said, this is another in his recent love songs to foreign lands; a he did with London, Barcelona and Paris- Woody paints a masterpiece of Rome’s beauty. The story is classic new century neurosis. Baldwin is a hoot, Cruz is devastating, Page is herself…and this one features the return of the Woodman in a smaller role- with a psychoanalyst wife that matches him for the ages. If you eve liked a woody- you gotta go.

Novel Review- The Death Instinct- Jed Rubinfield

Title: The Death Instinct

Genre: Novel

Grade: A-

Notable People: Jed Rubinfield

Review: this Harvard Law professor has produced a beauty; the story of aftermath of the great September terrorist attack on Lower Manhattan…..in 1920!!! Who knew- based on facts about an amazingly hidden incident in American history. It has Wilson, Harding, Madame Curie and Freud and it’s a page turner to boot. Will make you think twice about 9/11. Spellbinding.

Film Review- The Hunger Games

Title: The Hunger Games

Genre: Film

Grade: B+

Notable People: Jennifer Lawrence, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson, Sidney Tucci, Donald Sutherland

Review: Tess and I went to see this for my birthday after a month long wait for a data. Worth the wait. The two of us read the trilogy last year at same time so were highly eager for the film. These are tough books to make into film- but it is a an admirable job. I was surprised the film was able to capture the struggle to maintain humanity amidst the horror. Lawrence is a revelation as the heroine Katniss. Harrelson is quite the part and Tucci is to die for. Banks is unrecognizable and Lenny Kravitz has a very key small part. Great scenery and captures the angst of it all…. And the metaphors.

Film Review- Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Title: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Genre: Film

Grade: B+

Notable People: Emily Blunt, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ewan Macgregor

Review: I think the title probably tells you all you need to know; delightful movie about uptight English people trying to help a very rich and mystical Sheik to create a dam and bring salmon fishing to the middle est. Thomas is a force.

Novel Review- The Yashim series- Jason Goodwin

Title: The Yashim series

Genre: Novels

Grade: A-

Notable People: Jason Goodwin

Review: I previously wrote about the fist of these books that I read- and have now read all four in the current series. If you like intrigue in 19th century Istanbul; filled with sultans, pashas, harems and thousands of years of mythology- then these are for you. Very well written and amazing sense of the history and culture- and did I mention that our here- Yashim- is a Eunuch? Give it a try..

Film Review- The Artist

Title: The Artist

Genre: Film

Grade: A-

Notable People: Director: Michel Hazanavicius. . Actors: Jean Dujardin · Bérénice Bejo· John Goodman · James Cromwell

Review: You’ve heard a lot about this film and all valid. I loved it- but I think you really have to be a fan of old films to really get juiced by it. The acting s magnificent and it is a veritable love song to the cinema. The credits-which look like they came from Casablanca- are worth it alone.

Novel Review- The Sense of an Ending- Julian Barnes

Title: The Sense of an Ending

Genre: Novel

Grade: B+

Notable People: Julian Barnes

Review: my good find Phil- who many of you know- recommended this to me. I’m not sure I liked it as much as he did- found it a bit slow and found the main character to be wearing- but I’m including his review for your consideration “Small beautifully crafted fiction that follows a life in friendships, relationships, marriage, divorce and an untimely death that haunts throughout. A treatise on memory, loss and mystery. Great with lots of pithy notes on life. Read it in a day.”

Film (Music) Review- The Great Flood

Title: The Great Flood

Genre: Film/Music

Grade: A

Notable People: Bill Morrison- filmmaker Bill Frizell- score and live performance

Review: this is a traveling show, seen at the Wexner Center, of their collaboration on presenting the extraordinary Mississippi flood of 1927. Morrison uses restored archival footage to paint an incredible picture of the physical, social and cultural devastation and Frizell and is three piece band are nothing short of spectacular. This has limited run around the country. Don’t miss it if you get a chance. Incredibly moving.

Novel Review- The Cat’s Table- Michael Ondaatje

Title: The Cat’s Table

Genre: Novel

Grade: A-

Notable People: Michael Ondaatje

Review: I really liked this gentle tale of a young Indian boys’ (dots- not feathers)coming of age tale, crossing the ocean from India to England in the 1950s. Beautifully written with an interesting flash forward element with characters jumping to life off the pages. This is the man who wrote “the English Patient”. What an adventure for a young boy..