The Miseducation of Cameron Post

So this one was also another novel adaptation, and as the third movie of the day I was a bit tired and worried about drifting off as I am prone to a little snooze.  However, I was saved by the three teenagers who had seats along from me who had noisy popcorn bags and spent the whole movie chewing through the lot.

This is the story of Cameron Post, who is caught at prom making out with the prom queen.  Her strict religious aunt sends her to a Christian conversion camp.  After initially finding it hard to fit in, she makes new friends.

No real surprises with this film, and I did feel a few decades too old for being the target audience.  3/5

Juliet, Naked

I didn't realize until the credits rolled on this one, that this movie was based on a Nick Hornby novel, which would have sold it to me anyway.  This year I haven't read much about the movies I've been picking, it has been a bit of a lucky dip which is quite nice for a little surprise.  So this little movie is about Annie who lives in a little seaside town with her boyfriend Duncan.  Duncan has been obsessed with a little known US artist Tucker Crowe, who disappeared from performing in the 90s.  Duncan runs his fan website, which he spends many nights with other middle aged men online obsessing over what happened to their idol.

One day, a mysterious cd arrives in the post and when Annie dares to write a scathing post on his site, that is the last straw from Duncan.  Annie then receives an email from the elusive Tucker Crowe and a strange new relationship starts.  It was a sweet movie, and I enjoyed the three main characters.  It was nice to have a story centered round some middle aged characters without having Botoxed 20 year olds.  4/5

Science Fair

In the past few years at the Film Festival I have enjoyed the documentaries more than anything else.  I am not sure if that is a reflection of my middle agedness or the movies on offer, but sometimes real life is much more interesting and exciting than any fictional story. 

Science Fair follows several students who are trying to win a spot at the International Science Fair of 2017 to be held in Los Angeles.  I may have thought I was relatively smart as a teenager and well read as an adult, but wow this just blew me away with how intelligent these teenagers are, with subjects and topics that I was struggling to understand what they were even talking about. 

It was also interesting to look at the social side of the students lives.  In most high schools it is usually only the sports stars achievements are celebrated, and you feel sad for the young student in North Dakota who has previously come third in the competition, yet no one knows who she is at her school.  There was something to like about all of the students and teachers shown in this movie, and all the small audience I shared the cinema with enjoyed this one.  Hopefully it has all the success that the spelling bee movies from a few years ago had.  5/5

Breath

I couldn't face seeing only 1 movie on the first day of the 2018 Film Festival so booked into the movie  after the one I wanted to see.  I had only read a brief write up about this one, sometimes it is better to be surprised.  Breath is set in the 1970s and is based on the Tim Winton novel of the same name.  It is the story of two small town Australian boys, Pikelet and his mate Loonie who discover the magic of surfing at the local beaches.  Here they meet and befriend Sando, an older guy who they find out was a bit of a surfing  legend in the past, but is now living the quiet life with his wife and dog.  He takes the boys under his wing, and challenges them to test their fear.

Most of the movie feels like a coming of age boys version of Puberty Blues, I am not sure about the adult themed turn it took in the last 1/3, it kind of turned it into something more seedy than the start and wouldn't be something that you would put on for the kids.  Lots of the casual 70s Aussie dialogue did make us laugh, words and phrases I haven't heard in decades and the chopper bikes brought back memories of my brother and his friends racing around.  I just wasn't sold on this movie, somehow there wasn't much magic in it for me even though there were some lovely isolated beaches on show.  3/5

Leave No Trace

So today was the first day of the film festival for me.  Although it does start on Friday,  I no longer go to any movies in the evenings, and have joined the pensioners who fill the seats during the day.  It suits me better in winter, and I am happier to be home at dinner time.  My friends who used to join me in evening movies, too expensive and too difficult to get parking in the evenings, so I am on a solo adventure which is fine with me.  I take my lunch and a good book and try to go out for a walk between sessions if the weather is fine.

Leave No Trace is a movie directed by Debra Granik who also directed Winter's Bone.  In this story we get to meet Tom and her father Will, who are living in a tent in the depths of a large urban park in Portland, Oregan.   Suffering from PTSD, Will is happier living away from everybody and all the challenges of modern life, yet Tom is challenged with this thinking as she is exposed to other ways of living.

I enjoyed this style of social realism, of seeing what looked like real people living real lives and both the main characters had a connection that made their relationship believable and you wanted to see what happened to them. I liked that it was an original story, without the cliches that you see in many films of this genre, that it avoided the  Hallmark movie cliches.   Thomasin Mckenzie is played by a young local actress from our town, so the cinema was full which was great.  We were also lucky enough to have the director attend the film festival session and she was there to answer a short Q & A after the movie.    A worthy start to the Film Festival fortnight.  4/5

Mama Mia - Here We Go Again

Ok I did say that I would go with a friend to see this one at the cinema, as she was really looking forward to it.  I spent my childhood in the 70s so we had lots and lots of Abba on the stereo and the radio, so I have a bit of a love hate with the songs, as they were never quite my thing, but I do know most of the words to the more popular songs.

This movie is pure cheesy in your face musical.  It is a prequel and sequel to the other movie, telling the backstory about Donna and how she ended up pregnant in Greece, and then her daughters story 10 years on since the earlier movie.  All of the earlier characters are back, although the fathers are looking a lot older and slower, they still slip on the Lycra and do a little dad shuffle. 

I think you are not missing much by not going to the movies and seeing this one - I sense it will be recycled on the television for years to come in the at dry time of Christmas/New Years where we get to see every old musical replayed over and over again.  3/5

Robin - Dave Itzoff

Don't get me wrong - I think Robin Williams was a magician, a one of a kind comedian who had the ability to make us shake with laughter at times and still show us a bit of his vulnerable side.  This biography chronicles his life, from growing up reasonably well off, to making his name in comedy clubs in San Francisco and LA, his Mork and Mindy days, then finding fame in movies. 

I just found that reading this book felt like reading a sports or political memoir, with lots of changes of scenes and characters but little of the spark of the real person, that the written descriptions of them is  unable to capture their charisma, to show us how they moved in the world and interact with others.  Maybe it was a little bit because I knew that this particular story was going to end in tragedy, that we were all touched by Robin Williams and the laughter he had given us over the years, that we all felt sad that he struggled to find his own peace. 2/5

The Girl Who Smiled Beads - Clemantine Wamariya

Clemantine Wamariya is just 6 when  with her older sister Claire she is separated  from her family in war torn Rawanda, and for the next six years, they manage to survive through staying with family, sleeping rough and staying in refugee camps.  It is pretty hard to imagine how two young girls were able to survive such hardships, with no money or contact with their family.

We also get to hear of how six years later and being able to immigrate to the US, Clemantine is able to start her schooling and head off to University after arriving with limited English and no early schooling as a child.  You have to admire her determination to succeed and do well for so well for herself. 3/5

Frasier

I was glad to read this article about Frasier on The Guardian website today saying that there is talk about it returning as a series.  They have been playing the old seasons show on Prime tv each afternoon at 5pm, and I have been recording it to watch.  The like the snobbish radio psychiatrist who has a fair bit of social anxiety, and each time I watch I find myself smiling at the wit and banter, which seems to be lacking in many of the formulaic comedies that are on tv.  In fact I can't really think of any modern comedies that amuse me at the moment, even Modern Family can be a bit hit or miss. 

So this middle aged lady viewer would welcome back Frasier, Niles, Daphne and Ros to see what has happened in their lives since they have been off air.

An Odyssey - Daniel Mendelsohn

This book is clever in that it works at telling many same stories at the same time.  Primarily it is about Daniel Mendelsohn a Professor who teaches his young students about Homers Classic - The Odyssey.  One year, his 81 year old father Jay, a Mathematician asks to sit in on the class and learn along with the young students, most of whom are a quarter of his age.  We start at the beginning with them, and it was interesting to learn about the journey of Odysseus in traveling to get back to his wife Penelope and his trials along the way.

We also learn about the strained relationship that the author has had in the past with his father, and how he is still learning to discover things about his father that he didn't know.  At the end of their study together father and son travel to Athens to take a cruise following in Odysseus's footsteps through Greece, the Greek Islands and along the modern Mediterranean. 

A year after the course ends his father becomes ill, and this leads us into another story of the father and son, leading onto the final journey.  Such a nice book about it never being too late for us to learn, to educate ourselves and about the relationships between our family and friends. 4/5

Every Note Played - Lisa Genova

Richard is an accomplished concert pianist, stunning worldwide audiences with his talent, living in a nice apartment and enjoying the finer things in life. Then things begin to change with a diagnosis of ALS, first with the loss of his ability to play the piano, and then having to rely on his ex wife and daughter.

What a stunning book.  It is pretty brutal and honest about what happens with ALS, yet I did enjoy its exploration about love.  How his ex wife and daughter helped him, how his care giver tended to his most basic needs, even when irritating him by singing show tunes. 

I stayed up late reading, and even though I knew how it would end it still made me cry. 5/5

Music Monday - Caramel - Suzanne Vega

I have scored some tickets to go and see Suzanne Vega in just over a week and I am quite excited.  So I am busy relistening to songs I haven't listened to in years, and watching videos on youtube.  I forgot how much I like the smooth sounds of this song and had never seen the video - which makes me like it more.

The Mummy

Saturday night was a stormy wintry night here, with pouring rain outside and the 20 somethings next door adding to the noise by having a bit of a party.  So I was glad to settle down after dinner and watch a movie.  I had seen the previews of this several times while watching several other movies, and am a bit of a sucker for a bit of Egyptian storyline.

Look there was nothing much original in this one, its a story we all know about a mummy coming back to haunt and cause havoc.  Tom Cruise does a good job of running and jumping, but I wonder if he is getting a bit too old to play a convincing action hero.  A big part of me dislikes that a 50ish actor has to then have a love interest who is 20 years his junior, and young enough to be his daughter.

This is a bit of a revamp of a movie, which tries to incorporate their new franchise with a Dr Jekyll character played by Russell Crowe which was a bit distracting and didn't made me interested in following the series.  3/5

Battle of the Sexes

Friday night was a windy and wet one here in the city, so once the evenings chores were done it was time to settle in for a movie.  A 99c special was what drew me to seeing this one, the story of the lead up to the 1973 tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King.  I was just a small child at the time, so wasn't aware of much of the era of the story line, but enjoyed that it seemed to portray pretty accurately what was happening in society at the time.

At the time, in womens tennis in the US, men were being offered 8x the prize money, as the girls were told that the men were the real draw, and they weren't filling the seats.  55 year old Bobby Riggs offered a $100,000 prize money if Billie Jean King could beat him in a tennis tournament,  because he shouted out that he could beat any woman currently  playing.

Emma Stone and Steve Carell did an excellent job in playing these characters, and although I felt transported to the time, and invested in the story it just came off a little flat to me, some spark was missing, it felt like there was no real magic moment that would make this a memorable movie.  3/5

Our House - Louise Candlish

Fiona rounds the corner into street and sees the moving trucks, thinking that the neighbors must have sold  up and be moving on is surprised to find a strange couple moving their belongings into her house, with her and her sons belongings gone.  How did this happen?  This book sets out to explain her predicament with lots of twists and turns. 

I did find, like lots of books of this genre that the changing narrators and shifting times gets a little confusing for me and I often find myself a little muddled, but still it was an original story with surprising elements that I can easily see being made into a movie.  4/5

Beauty In The Broken Places - Allison Pataki

Allison Pataki is  7 months pregnant, and has gone with her husband Dave on a trip to Hawaii for a baby moon vacation, when he reaches across the seat to tell her that he can't see and shortly becomes unconscious after suffering a severe stroke. After an emergency landing, the family gather to support the young couple and even though his condition seems dire there is a small chance that the 30 year old orthopedic doctor will recover.

This memoir explores not only the events that followed after his life changing stroke, but the love story of Dave and Allison, and even though some of it is grim hospital story, it made me admire how hard this young couple have worked and how lucky they are to have such a supportive family assisting them. 4/5

Music Monday - Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights - Enjoy

The internet is an amazing thing isn't it?  I always remember seeing Kate Bush and this song on the tele as a 10 year old and being both amazed and frightened and now I just have an intense love for the song and for Kate Bush, and I am glad that she is still loved 40 years later. Amazing to think that she was just 19 herself when she released this song.  This video just made me smile.

The Greatest Showman

Normally I am not a fan of the musical genre, as I get annoyed with the break into song part of it, but I do have and enduring love of Grease.  I didn't want to really see The Greatest Showman, but was ok with watching it at home on the couch.  This is the very fictionalized version of the story of American Circus owner PT Barnum played by Hugh Jackman.  It all came across a bit forced and corny to me with sparkly costumes, pristine sets and perfect hair and makeup, whereas I am a bit of a fan of grit and dirt and realism.  The movie just seemed to lean on the cheesy side pc side, with probably the best part of the movie being the songs themselves.  2/5

Ocean's 8

It was a surprisingly warm winters afternoon in the city.  Me and a bestie really needed an afternoon out.  There wasn't too much too choose from at the cinema as school holidays are on, and we aren't a fan of the superhero genre, and we all know what is going to happen with the dinosaurs (lots of running), so Oceans 8 it is.  I had heard mostly mediocre reviews of the movie, so wasn't expecting much.  I hadn't intended to spend the money on a movie ticket for this one, expecting that I would see it sometime on the tele. 

Anyway I am sure most of you know the premise.  Sandra Bullock plays Debbie Ocean, sister of Danny Ocean (George Clooney) from all the other Oceans movies.  She leaves prison with an idea for a new con.  She gathers a girl gang all with their own special talents (and boat loads of botox), and they set about in trying to steal a necklace at the Met Gala. 

It was all a bit predictable and even though there were a lot of cameos there seemed to be something lacking, a loss of charm and cheekiness that George Clooney/Brad Pitt/ Matt Damon had been able to portray in their movies.  Still it was a bit of distraction from a busy week of work.  3/5

Something In The Water - Catherine Steadman

Erin and Mark seem to have it all.  Attractive and successful with great jobs and a nice home in London - they are busy planning their expensive wedding and a honeymoon in Bora Bora.  But it is not all as it seems as we find out behind the scenes.

Mostly I found this a great read, although at stages I seemed to lose my sense of belief at what was happening with them, and got a bit frustrated at Erin, who at times seemed pretty on to it, and then would seem to do something stupid.  I am not sure that you would be able to keep ringing up a prisoner locked up for advice, and it seemed that she was a bit too trusting of what other people were saying, and not suspicious enough.  Still it was a new twist on what is often a bit of a tired story line.  I am sure it will do well - and make a good movie. 4/5

Music Monday - Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley with Choir! Choir! Choir!

Gosh this made me smile.  Rick Astley with his 1988 hit Never Gonna Give you Up performs with Torontos Choir! Choir! Choir!.  It's still a pretty catch song even thirty years on and was a bit of cheer that I needed tonight. 

The Trauma Cleaner - Sarah Krasnostein

Sarah writes the rather extra ordinary story of Sandra  Pankhurst who works cleaning up homes of hoarders, murders and sudden deaths in Sydneys suburbs.  Yet it is the stories about her growing up that were the most harrowing to me, the neglect and abuse she suffered living with adoptive parents who sent her to live in an unheated, unlit shed in the garden unloved and unfed were just horrific.

Born male she then transitioned into a female, and the book doesn't shy away from the drugs and alcohol she abused and working in the  sex trade that she was in  years.  An amazing life where she  just wants to be accepted and fit in, and be able to provide for herself, working hard to run her own business and buy a home. 3/5

Bad Moms Christmas

I know - going in I should have been prepared for this one to be bad, but honestly it was just terrible.  It seemed to be written on such a formula of tired and predictable mum/christmas jokes with some crude jokes and swearing tossed in.  I felt that the 99c I spent on it was too much.  1/5

Coming Soon

These two look good.  I like Emma Thompson - she brings something very real and vulnerable to her roles and this looks like a bit of a thought provoking movie, a very Sunday Night Masterpiece drama. 

All That Remains - Sue Black

What a great read - I felt sad when it ended, and could have carried on for many more chapters, as I am sure the author has had to edit down many of the stories that she carries around her.  Sue Black is the Professor of  Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology at Dundee University and she talks us through both her own life and shares her knowledge about death. 

Not only is she involved with prominent cases in the UK, she also goes to Kosovo to help identify many of the victims killed during the war there, and it is hard not to be moved to tears when she talks about the brutal way adults and children were killed and butchered.  She also goes to Thailand after the devastating 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami in the Indian Ocean.  It is hard to imagine the terrible conditions that they were working in and she brings a sense of humanity and compassion to the stories of the victims.

Although sometimes challenging to read, I felt I learnt something in each chapter and it will certainly be one of my top reads for 2018. 5/5

The Story of Beatrix Potter - Sarah Gristwood

I must admit to have not grown up reading Beatrix Potter books, but as I have grown up I admire the talent in writing and illustrating them and am not immune to their charms.  I liked this book about Beatrix Potters life, from the most Victorian of childhoods where she was more or less isolated at home with her uptight parents.  She was surrounded by pets and had a huge interest in nature an adored holidays spent in Scotland and the Lake District.

As her success as an author grew after writing thirty books, she was able to use her income and a legacy from an aunt to buy first one farm, and then many other properties in her beloved Lake District and when she died she gifted the land to the National Trust, preserving their beauty for the generations ahead.

Somehow though I came away feeling sad for this kind and talented woman who seemed to have had a  lonely time for a lot of her life. 3/5

Music Monday - Girls Like You - Maroon 5 ft. Cardi B

I'm loving this song, and have put it to the top of the playlist.  What a great video, love all the girls dancing around him, and then his wife and daughter at the end.  Beautiful.

The Lace Weaver - Lauren Chater

This story tells us about the plight of two young women in Estonia during the Second World War.  Katarina and her parents are trying to survive on their small farm, but as the Russian army starts to advance they feel the tension and threats as they see their neighbors being taken away.  Relying on the support of her grandmothers knitting group Katarina  tries to keep the traditions passed onto her alive.

Lydia escapes with her nanny Olga from her oppressive uncle in Moscow to travel to the small rural town where her father is posted and her mother grew up.  Here she hears about the secrets surrounding her birth, and tries to blend in with the locals. 

I liked the two central characters, but somehow I didn't quite believe how it all strung together and felt it all rushed at the end and the last few chapters felt a little chopped together.  3/5