what Dave thinks about movies, books and everything
{4.5/5} “Well, there are people called train chasers. They follow a train and they film it.” The Station Agent, released in 2003 Fin works in a model train shop with his good friend Henry. When Henry dies he leaves Fin some land in the country with an abandoned train station on it. Fin is a […]
{4/5} “What would we really like to see if we could stand outside ourselves and look at us?” Another Earth, released in 2011 It’s wonderful to come across a movie like this. I knew only the basic premise before I watched it — it was a pleasant surprise to find it’s so good. It’s a […]
What made Harry Potter such a phenomenon? A friend of mine suggested that the tipping point (read the book by Malcolm Gladwell if you haven’t already) was Rosie O’Donnell’s show. O’Donnell had her talk show at the time when the first book came out. She was a big fan and mentioned it several times. After it […]
I rate movies (and TV shows and books) on how much the story grabs me — on this particular occasion. I’m not rating movies based on their influence on the history of cinema or anything like that. It can have great special effects, great music, great actors, but if it doesn’t have a great story […]
I don’t usually read a book and watch the movie based on the book. I find that whichever one comes second will be pretty ho hum — so I just pick one or the other. I made a couple of exceptions recently for books on Sci-Fi Lists. I read Jurassic Park and Interview With the […]
{4.5/5} “They call them smart phones, but only dummies use them in my class.” Larry Crowne, released in 2011 I started watching Black Swan, which has many fans, but it wasn’t doing it for me so I didn’t finish it. Instead I watched Larry Crowne starring Tom Hanks, who also directed, and Julia Roberts. Other […]
{4.5/5} “Truth has many faces and the truth is like to the old road to Avalon; it depends on your own will, and your own thoughts, whither the road will take you.” The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, published in 1983 This is Bradley’s retelling of the King Arthur story from the point […]
A good news story from a while ago, in case you didn’t hear about it… Mozart’s classical music cuts crime rates in New Zealand mall I think this is fascinating. Why does playing classical music lower the crime rate? Malcolm Gladwell might have the answer. Chapter 4 of his book The Tipping Point is subtitled […]
{4.5/5} “Watching an emotional train wreck was awesome unless you’re the one getting hit.” Awkward. season 1, aired in 2011 This is another show about high school students, so why did I start watching it? Because a friend of mine uses the word “awkward” a lot. Once I started watching, I wanted to find out […]
{5/5} “They take all the mirrors out of your house or something? You don’t look good.” The Big C seasons 1 & 2, aired in 2010-11 Laura Linney (Jim Carrey’s wife in The Truman Show) stars in this show about a woman who finds out she has cancer. Cathy, Linney’s character, initially decides not to […]