The Secret in Their Eyes

The Secret in Their Eyes - DVD (2009)

I have been busy reading and doing lots of stuff, so somehow their has been less time for movies and tv. In fact due to the wind blowing the rest of the aerial out of alignment, I am left with only one channel and am stuck watching Prime TV. I must admit to enjoying Ladettes to Ladies, it does make me giggle and cringe at the same time.

I had heard a couple of recommendations for this movie, but like a lot of captioned movies, I find them hard to watch on tv at home, as I am easily distracted. The story of a lawyer and his search for the murder of a young woman 25 years ago, is still compelling to watch. I did find it long and am sure I lost the point half way through. 2/5

Valentines Day

Valentines Day - DVD (2010)

You suck ,you big puff ball full of pretend Valentines day love, where all the relationships seem plastic and dried out bits of emotion. Lots of cameos of famous faces, all of whom prance around looking in need of a sandwich, and a lesson in love.

Give me Bright Star any day, over this Hollywood vanity piece. 1/5

A Song for Jenny - Julie Nicholson

A Song for Jenny - Julie Nicholson (2010)

A song for Jenny is a personal story written by her mother, starting on the day of the London bombings, when Julie realises she can't get a hold of her daughter. As the day progresses, more members of her family become concerned, before they all realise that she is missing presumed dead.

We follow along as Jennys death is confirmed, and finally her remains are returned to the family in preparation for her funeral. Ultimately though, this is Julies story, and much of it is very touching, as she searches to find out where her daughter was in the days she was in the bombed out remains of the tube train, even going so far as to view the police pictures. She also views her daughters body, in order to anoint it before her funeral.

I know with my mothers death that the days waiting for the funeral are stretched out and go so slow, yet the time just seems to slip away, but after a few years the dying part and the grieving pains lessen, and I can now just remember mostly all the good parts, forgetting about the pain and stress. In this book I can still feel the pain and loss that Jenny feels from losing her daughter, but somehow I think her pain clouded her sense of loss that others in her family and group of friends had.

Still - I can see that this book can help others who suffer the loss of a family member in tragic circumstances, how they will be able to see how some one makes it through the tough times, and goes on . 3/5

Alcestis - Katharine Beutner

Alcestis - Katharine Beutner (2010)

This was one of those books that dragged me to bed early on windy and cool spring nights, and I enjoyed reading during a rushed lunch break, every minute snatched reading was good. Alcestis is the son of a local king who has lots of suitors. The king thus raises a challenge, and offers her in marriage to the victor.

So married at 15, she finds herself with a husband who owes to the gods. So they come after him, offering him death, and she chooses to go in his place. Without giving away the wholes story I enjoyed the melding of historical and mythical fiction, and thought this book did both parts of the story well, and made me interested in Greek mythology again.

A solid 4/5.

Jane Austen Fight Club

Classic - Jane Austen Fight Club - Bring it On!!

The Glass Room - Simon Mawer

The Glass Room - Simon Mawer (2009)

Mainly set in Czechoslovakia in the 1930s, this story starts with Liesel and Viktor, a wealthy newly married couple meeting an architect on holiday in Venice. He plans for them the most modern of houses, a flat boxed one with a spectacular glass living room. It becomes a showcase and topic of conversation for many in the area, and when war intervenes the young couple now find that they must leave in order to avoid the advancing Germans.

Leaving with their friends, they find themselves first in Switzerland, and then they try to reach the US. Meanwhile the house is looked after by staff and is then taken over by first the Germans as a lab, the Russian and then the Czechs as a Gymnasium.

A clever mix of a war story that is not really about the war, but a story about the house and how it affects all those who live in it and how that connects all their lives. 3/5

No Place Like Home - Pen Farthing

No Place Like Home - Pen Farthing (2010)

Pen Farthing is a UK marine, who when posted in Afghanistan forms a bond with a couple of stray dogs there. Determined to get them back to the UK, he ends up forming a charity to help other soldiers and dogs in similar situations. This book is about what happens upon his return, how the dogs settle in and the amount of time they and the charity chew up.

I think I have just about overdone it on the animal/owner stories this year, I'm feeling a bit jaded with all the bonding tales. 3/5

The Green Zone

The Green Zone - DVD (2010)

Being a middle aged woman, I can profess to being not the target audience for this Iraq based drama. Matt Damon plays a serious soldier who begins to question why the US is in Iraq looking for weapons of mass destruction, and yet are not finding any proof of their excistance.

I can also admit to skipping through the last 20 minutes and not paying much attention to the last half of the movie. I know it had an important story to tell, but I just didn't really care in the end. 2/5

Iron Jawed Angels

Iron Jawed Angels - DVD (2004)

Iron Jawed Angels is a DVD that I heard about on blogland somewhere. It is the story of the suffragettes in the US, who fought for many years to give women the vote. Eventually after imprisonments, hunger strikes and force feeding giving bad press, the government relented.

I enjoyed the movie, finding out about the characters involved, although I am sure it was much less glamorous than appeared on the screen. I was a bit distracted by the music though, which seldom happens. However it was a movie set in the 1910 period and yet the movie was full of modern music that somehow seemed a little bit out of place. Like someone said "how do we make this movie appeal to teenagers and sell a soundtrack". For me it kind of ruined the ambience, and made it seem a little less real.

Anyways it was worth a 3/5, for it is an important story to tell that mamy women could do with seeing.

Girl in Translation - Jean Kwok

Girl in Translation - Jean Kwok (2010)

Kimberly Chang and her mother immigrate from Hong Kong to New York, finding themselves forced to work in an aunties factory to pay back debts and pay the rent. Kimberly also has to find time to go to school, but helps work with her mother in a Chinatown sweatshop at night for pennies.

I felt moved by a few things in this novel, the teacher expecting the kids to come to school and discuss current events, when Kimberly didn't have a television and could not afford newspapers. My own upbringing was easy in comparison, but my parents ran a 6 day a week business, and as at high school I worked each day before and after school, Friday nights and Saturdays and still had to get my work done.

So I think this one deserves a 4/5.