Not the Song by Orbital
By bukkhead | March 16, 2010
FILM REVIEW: ‘The Box’
Written and Directed by Richard Kelly
Based on the short story by Richard Matheson
Rated PG-13
115 mins.
I love my wife for lots of reasons, and even if we weren’t married, we’d be good friends for lots of those reasons. One is how she’s get obsessed with something. I don’t mean like a hobby, but more like an idea. I identify with the compulsion, and relish the journey it takes us on, regardless of the result. Read the rest of this entry »
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Because “Predictioneer” Sounds Like “Privateer”
By bukkhead | February 5, 2010
This review appeared previously at Wiffli.com, and is being reproduced here because here is where I’m supposed to put reviews.
BOOK REVIEWS: ‘THE PREDICTIONEER’S GAME’
by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita
272 pages
Published by Random House, 2009.
‘PIRATE LATITUDES’
by Michael Crichton
320 pages
Published by Harper Collins, 2009.
Finished The Predictioneers Game by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita last week, and Pirate Latitudes by the late Michael Crichton this week, and started in on It’s Not News, It’s Fark by Drew Curtis last night. So I’m ahead of schedule. Ahead of what schedule, you say, having only read this article and no other on Wiffli, where we write when/if we want to about whatever we want, even if it bores the crap out of all two of our readers? My schedule to read one book per week all year long, that’s what. Week 5, here we go. Read the rest of this entry »
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Pratchett Fan Forever
By bukkhead | January 30, 2010
This review appeared previously at Wiffli.com, and is being reproduced here because here is where I’m supposed to put reviews.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘UNSEEN ACADEMICALS’
by Terry Pratchett
368 pages
Published by Doubleday, 2009.
3 weeks, 3 books so far, and hey hey hey, I’m almost done with week 4 and book 4. But Week 3: Unseen Academicals, latest in the long-running Discworld series. It’s a fantasy novel, it’s a series novel, and for those reasons alone you probably won’t read it. Or, for those reasons you will read it—my point is, this “review” will have nothing to do whatsoever with whether you read the book or not. You’re either already a Pratchett fan, or not. I could try to give you a general overview of why Terry Pratchett is one of the greatest writers of all time, but I don’t have the space here or the patience. Read the rest of this entry »
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A House By Any Other Name…
By bukkhead | January 23, 2010
This review appeared previously at Wiffli.com, (except where otherwise noted) and is being reproduced here because here is where I’m supposed to put reviews. Also, the thing about House being named after Holmes has been confirmed– I’m also told that Wilson is, essentially, Watson.
FILM REVIEW: ‘Sherlock Holmes’
Written by Michael Robert Johnson et. al.
Directed by Guy Ritchie
Rated PG-13
128 mins.
I finally figured out where they got the name “House” for doctor Gregory. M.D. It’s because “house” sounds like “homes” which sounds like “Holmes” and House is supposed to be all Sherlock-like. The way he sees a spot on Cutty’s shirt and deduces that she’s pregnant with twins and the father’s an Albanian Minister of Finance with a penchant for cheap cigars and expensive wines. And medical dramas are staggeringly popular, almost as much as cop shows, but a Sherlock cop was done with Monk already, so they went with the doctor thing. Read the rest of this entry »
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Absurdity, Unrepentant
By bukkhead | January 21, 2010
This review appeared previously at Wiffli.com, and is being reproduced here because here is where I’m supposed to put reviews.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘YOUTH IN REVOLT’
by C.D. Payne
499 pages
Published by Alvia Press, 1993.
Last Friday I finished Youth in Revolt by C.D. Payne. Now this is an exciting book because it’s the first in a series, the series has a movie based on it, the movies stars Michael Cera, and the books were self-published. The books are Nick Twisp’s journals, his adventures as a regular 14 year-old-boy living in California. Go grab your e-reader and download a sample. Read the rest of this entry »
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The Publisher Who Played With Posthumous Publishing
By bukkhead | January 14, 2010
This review appeared previously at Wiffli.com, and is being reproduced here because here is where I’m supposed to put reviews.
BOOK REVIEW: ‘THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE’
by Stiegg Larsson
631 pages
Published by Norstedts Förlag, 2006.
I’ve taken it upon myself to read one book per week this year. So far I’m one-for-one, and looking good for the second one as well! It would be great if I could put my “reviews” of these books here as well. So here’s the first attempt. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson. Read the rest of this entry »
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A Kinder, Gentler Genghis
By bukkhead | June 24, 2008
FILM REVIEW: ‘MONGOL’
Written by Arif Aliyev and Sergei Bodrov
Directed by Sergei Bodrov
Rated R
126 mins.
Mongol is the story of Genghis Khan before he was khan, when he was still called Temudjin. Those who are well-read in the history of Genghis may notice discrepancies or liberties taken with the telling of this story, but Mongol is not a biopic or a documentary, or even meant to be merely historical. Mongol is, at heart, a love story, about a boy who loves his people, and a man who loves his wife. Read the rest of this entry »
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Of Tea and Spices, Water and Fire
By bukkhead | June 23, 2008
FILM REVIEW: ‘BEFORE THE RAINS’
Written by Cathy Rabin
Directed by Santosh Sivan
Rated PG-13
98 mins.
In the jungles of southern India, an English spacer trader building a road falls in love with one of his household servants. She is married to an austere man from the nearby village, doubling the taboo inherent in the affair. Witness to this and accomplice in the consequences is an Indian guide and foreman who straddles India’s past and future, a dutiful son educated in British schools. Merchant and Ivory’s latest films is a symbol of the Great Britain’s own affair with India in the early 20th century. Read the rest of this entry »
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Money Can’t Buy Love
By bukkhead | June 17, 2008
FILM REVIEW: ‘PRICELESS’
Written by Benoît Graffin and Pierre Salvadori
Directed by Pierre Salvadori
Rated PG-13
104 mins.
Beautiful people and wealthy people go together like a horse and carriage, and even if there is no love, marriage is the ultimate goal. But they also say amor omni vincit… can love conquer Cartier, The Monte Carlo, and caviar? Audrey Tautou, who every loved in Amélie, (and raised an eyebrow at in The Da Vinci Code), plays Irène, a gold digger with enough experience in the game to be as much fighter as ingénue. Despite having won an almost sure thing, she can’t help but look for fun on her birthday, and mistakes a simple bartender for a very wealthy hotel guest. She’s not foolish enough to abandon one rich man for another, but not so focused that she won’t allow herself an indiscretion. However, it’s not called indiscretion for nothing. Read the rest of this entry »
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Not Just a Trashy Novel
By bukkhead | June 16, 2008
FILM REVIEW: ‘ROMAN DE GARE’
Written by Claude Lelouch and Pierre Uytterhoeven
Directed by Claude Lelouch
Rated R
103 mins.
Roman de Gare, a new film from Claude Lelouch, takes a mixture of complicated plot elements and expertly weaves them around and into one another, so that at any time, the audience can’t be sure what is the truth and what is fiction. It’s a delicate thread, one that both rewards and defies the astute viewer who picks up the details and pays attention to every nuance. For example, Pierre Laclos, as the story unfolds, might be a serial rapist, a magician, a ghost writer, or merely an estranged husband, or even a combination of a few of these. His character shares the same name as the novelist who wrote Les Liaisons dangereuses: is this a red herring, or is there a deeper meaning there? Read the rest of this entry »
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