Yesterday

I had seen the clips for this one being advertised months ago, so was quite excited to see it, enough so to buy a ticket at the cinema on the opening weekend.  Jack is a singer songwriter without much success, with the only fans being his friends.  Then one night, a blackout causes an accident and Jack finds himself in a world where he has enormous success.

I won't give too much away, you can watch the trailer and guess it all anyway.  This is from the Richard Curtis camp, and has the right amount of British humor and charm that I hope it finds a good audience.  Certainly at the movie theater I was at there was a mix of ages and most people laughed throughout.  I think there seems to have been a spate of serious heavy drama round lately, that is nice to be amused and entertained.  I have to give it a 4.5/5 as I know I will end up watching this one again.

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - The Wife

It was meant to be fireworks here in the city, but due to a windy afternoon they have been put off, and of course as the intended time came the evening was lovely and still.  So instead of greasy noodles from a food truck for dinner, it was soup and toast for dinner  on the couch.

 This weeks 99c special was The Wife - a movie that earned Glenn Close an Academy Award Nomination.  I had heard of it, but didn't have time to see it when it was at the cinema, and sometimes  I am not in the mood for a serious drama, and don't mind watching this sort of movie at home,  when other types of movies are best enjoyed on a big screen with a large audience.  The Wife is the story of an author and his wife as they go to Stockholm where he is to receive the Nobel Prize for literature.  The movie also shifts back in time to tell their story and it is often a tense watch as the characters interact and fight.

A serious 4/5.

Hard Pushed - Leah Hazard

There are plenty of medical memoirs popping up and I have to rate this one as one of my favorites.  Leah Hazard tells stories of women, the women giving birth and the midwives who assist them.  You can't help but admire the women in both roles and I loved each and every story, even though some of them are heartbreaking.  5/5.

Solitaire - Jane Thynne

This is the 5th book in a series, about Anglo German Clara Vine, who is living in Germany just as the Germans have invaded France and things are beginning to look a bit dicey.   Summoned to see Josef Goebbels, she is worried that she might have been caught out, because of course our lady hero has a sneaky radio which could get her into trouble.

While I enjoyed most of this novel, I would have been more informed had I read the earlier books, and I felt it was a little forced that she would meet up with Ian Fleming and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and have so much influence on them.   It would seem being an actress that she would stand out and would be being watched wherever she went, so her ability to sneak around seemed a bit doubtful to me. 3/5.

Wild Rose

I decided that today was a good winters day to go and sit in a warm cinema.  It is always nice to have the day off on Tuesdays, as the movies are only $11.50 at the art house movie theater.  Wild Rose is one of those stories that the British do so well.  Rose-Lynn has just been released from prison, and has a dream of going to Nashville to be a country singer but life has a way of getting in the way of her dreams. 

Jessie Buckley, a young Irish girl just shines in the main role, and it certainly was a likeable movie that I think perfectly balanced the slightly cheesy story with the rough Glasgow street story.  She is a talented singer, and I liked that she was a fresh voice singing songs without cliched anthems being throughout.  4/5

When The Dogs Don't Bark - Angela Gallop

So many things are good about this book.  Angela Gallop had an interesting career as a Forensic Scientist at a time where so many changes happened in her field.  She also worked on many prominent cases, and it is the cases that made the book a compelling read as it felt like a crime novel explained. 

I did stumble a bit though with some of the book.  I am not a fan of too much jargon and lots of the technical details went over my head, and I wasn't really interested in the business side of the book.  I guess I wanted more cases and I think that all the crime books I read and shows I watch make you think that the Forensic scientists will be out there solving the cases, whereas in reality I am sure that they are in the lab most of the time. 3/5

Until The Day I Die - Emily Carpenter

Erin is having a bad time.  Her husband dies in an accident and she is left with the tech company that they founded, but she wants out.  When her daughter leave for college she seems to have a meltdown and the family and friends book her a retreat away where she can gather her thoughts.

Meanwhile daughter Shorie finds herself new friends who help her find out what is really happening with her mum.

I just felt from the start of this novel that I just didn't buy it, it just all felt a bit forced and cliched to me and ready for a Saturday night movie with a few b grade actors.  3/5

Music Monday - Lovely Day - Bill Withers

I watched The Secret Life of Pets at the weekend.  This ending is a sweet combination of the perfect song and how we feel when we get home to our pets.  I think it is just about my favorite end to any movie ever.

Rocketman

It was a cool wintry morning here in the city, and when I looked last night at the cinema sessions there was a 10am that looked like it would fit in with my plans.  I wasn't sure how much I wanted to see this movie, but thought it would be best seen at the cinema, as the last two music movies I had seen - Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star Is Born were both enhanced by being seen on the big screen an with a loud audio.

So as you probably already know this is the story of Elton John.  Rather than being a pure biopic, this one plays almost like a stage musical, but with enough of a story that I actually enjoyed it.  Taron Egerton does a fantastic job of portraying Elton John and singing his songs without it coming across as a forced impersonation or a karaoke performance.  I particularly enjoyed the first half of the movie, focusing on Elton John as a child when he was just Reginald Dwight. 

There is a lot of life and songs to be condensed down into two hours of movie,  so the movie does skim over some areas.  There is some sex, drugs and rock and roll but I think it was done well as that was not the focus of the story.  I was tapping my feet the whole time and smiling for most of the movie and would happily see it again.  5/5

I also wondered if it was Adele sneaked in as the cafe waitress who tells them that it is closing in a half hour?

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - Aquaman

I guess as a middle aged lady I am far from the target audience for a superhero movie.  I was aware of this one when it came out, but wasn't too bothered about seeing it.  One of my friends saw it with her kids and said that she did enjoy it,  so that made me think that I would watch it at some stage.

It is hard to be a woman and not be aware of Jason Mamoas own superpowers.  He is indeed one fine man, with all of his muscles, tattoos and long hair.  He plays Aquaman as a personable superhero who deeply loves his parents and it was his performance alone that made the movie watchable for me.

The story however seemed a bit patchy and hard to follow with a stilted script.  So many special effects were a bit of a distraction for me, it just made a lot of it false looking like it had all been performed in front of green screens. 

I don't know - maybe I am old fashioned but I think that a movie should be a good script and story first and that the effects and extras should be additional sending a simple movie into a fantastic one.  I don't know the necessity of seeing an octopus playing the drums  or a 10 minute underwater fight.  Watching this I can see why I stay well clear of the super hero genre movies.  They certainly have their audiences, but I will leave it to the teenagers to watch.   3/5

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - Tully

It is feeling a lot like winter here in the city, and as soon as you seem to be home it is dark outside and the temperature drops.  So comfort food was made for dinner, the curtains are drawn and the heaters are on.  So after skimming through the news it was time to sit down and watch a movie. 

Tully is the story of Marlo, who is a mother of three, tired all the time and with very little sleep with a newborn she is struggling to keep things together, when  a night nurse arrives to help her regain her old self.  It was an interesting little movie, and showed an overwhelmed mother in a way that we seldom see on screen.  One in sweatpants, exhausted and with unwashed hair and a realistic looking mum tum.  I did like that it was short at 1.5 hours, and that the writing seemed tight and had some rhythm throughout it.   I have read a couple of reviews that describe it as a comedy, which I think is a bit of a stretch, as I would have put it in the drama section of the video store.

So I was entertained, and Charlize Theron is such an easy watch as she just seems to fit the role with an ease that you could feel how tired she was.  In fact it has made me feel sleepy now.  4/5

The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells - Andrew Sean Greer

Greta has had some drastic changes in her life in 1985.  After her twin brothers death and a break up with her partner her depression worsens, and she seeks treatment.  This treatment has an unexpected side effect - she finds herself in a 1918 version of herself and another alternative in 1941, where each Greta has a different life with the same people surrounding her.

I think in many ways this was an interesting premise, and somehow I didn't feel connected to the characters, and the story felt a bit flat. and I wanted to know more.  You think time travelling you would be in awe of the experiences, the different types of people you would meet, the food, the drink, even reading the paper and people watching.  It just seemed like the small observations were missing. 3/5

The Things We Cannot Say - Kelly Rimmer

This was the novel that I had been waiting to read, and it exceeded my expectations where so many had failed recently in telling a realistic and vibrant World War II novel.  Using a dual narrative we get to listen to the story of Alina, a young Polish girl who has known since she was a child that she would always love her friend Tomasz, even as war tries to force them apart.

In the modern narrative we meet Alice, who is trying to juggle looking after her husband and children, as her beloved grandmother becomes sick.  The author does a good job of threading both stories together without giving away all the secrets at the beginning, and it did make me teary as I stayed up late to finish it off. 5/5

Middle Aged Lady Movie Night - Despicable Me

It's cold and stormy in the city and after a day out socializing with friends, it was nice to come home and put the heaters on.  I've had the Despicable Me movies sitting on the DVR for ages and so it was nice to clear some space and enjoy some simple silliness.  The animation is top notch, I loved the roller coaster scene, it was making me dizzy.  Anyway how could you not love Gru, his girls and his minions.  This Saturday silliness gets a 5/5.