The Imitation Game

Yet again over a month since I’ve been here. Time flies so fast. But I’m back and I want to say a word or two about The Imitation Game.

I didn’t know who Alan Turing was. And to tell you the truth I went to see this movie because Benedict Cumberbatch was playing the leading role. I’m not into mathematics or science.

But I’m very happy I did went to see The Imitation Game. The movie was entertaining and intriguing. It was touching and it made me mad. Such a huge unfairness, a brutal destiny of a man with a great talent. What a shame for those who forced him to live like that. It’s always hard when a person can’t be who he truly wants to be.

Benedict Cumberbatch gives a superbly brilliant, talented and nuanced performance and I think that he’s great, just great. Simply because of that I enjoyed the movie. But it was a great story too.

I have no bad things to say about The Imitation Game. It gave me moments of joy and sorrow. It gave entertainment and a portrait of an intelligent, and fairly unknown man. It’s good that this movie was made. I’m sure that today many more people know who Alan Turing was.

The Yellow Eyes of Crocodiles and The Slow Waltz of the Turtles

My friend recommended Katherine Pancol‘s books to me so I grabbed the first one The yellow eyes of crocodiles and started to read.

The beginnig of the book moved on a little slowly but I was persistent and continued reading. After a while I started to enjoy the story. It was a story of growth, a survival story of a woman and a story of her family relations. After almost 700 pages, as the book ended, I was pleased that I didn’t give up. I liked Josephine and hoped the best for her. And I decided to read the second part of the trilogy, The Slow Waltz of the Turtles.

I don’t know why but the second book was a little different. There was violence, murder, subordination, exercise of power and more. I was confused, where did this come from and why? There was Josephine and her problems with love and life, but I started to read a novel about relationships and life. I didn’t start to read a crime novel. It almost felt like Katherine Pancol didn’t know what she wanted to write so she put in a little bit of everything. And, after almost 800 pages I was dissapointed. I didn’t want all those ugly things to happen in these books, the story didn’t seem like that. Of course life is not always pretty, but all the things that happen to Josephines sister Iris, well, just too much, when you think about this trilogy.

I’m still thinking if I want to read the third part, The Squirrels of Central Park are Sad on Mondays. I guess I have to, so I’ll know what’s going to happen to Josephine. But before that I’m going to take a little break and read something else. These books are so chucky that you just don’t read them like that, in a couple of days. I have to prepare myself before I read the last one, because it’s going to be heavy, I’m sure of that.

Mortdecai

It’s been a while since I’ve written, so sorry. I’ve been busy doing fun things. I’ve read a lot of books and I’ve seen a lot of movies. Today I’m going to start with Mortdecai, the last movie of Johnny Depp.

I knew, when I went to see Mortdecai, that it was not going to be the mosti brilliant movie of the year. And I was right. It had it’s moments (not very many) and I laughed a little (very little). Otherwise the movie was just what I expected it to be, bad. The uppermost feeling that I had, most of the time, was embarrassment. Johnny Depp repeated his manners and Gwyneth Paltrow (although she looks beautiful) was unnatural. Maybe that was the purpose.

Mortdecai was a weird mixture of action and comedy. It had some very lousy jokes and some average ones. I was able to watch it, one time.

I feel bad for Johnny Depp. He doesn’t make good movies. I’m wishing that he would use his talent better. I’m even thinking of changing my idol. I’ve considered Benedict Cumberbatch, he is brilliant (I saw The Imitation Game, I’ll review it later).

Sorry Johnny, sorry Gwyneth, sorry Ewan. I just didn’t like Mortdecai.

Crow Girl and Hunger Fire

Erik Axl Sund’s  Crow Girl was the first part and Hunger Fire the second part of a trilogy.  I read Crow Girl a while a go and Hunger Fire last week.

When I started to read Crow Girl I wasn’t able to let it out of my hands, it was so good and intense. The book left the story unfinished and I had to wait to get the second part from the library. Eventually I did.

Both books are suspenseful, intense, dark and twisted and I liked them very much. The authors manage to tell you about these horrible things (abuse and violence) without feasting with blood and extreme details about the events. The narration is fluent and there’s nothing extra, no purposeless details. In other words you enjoy reading.

The second part wasn’t as exciting as the first one. I wondered why and I came to the conclusion that I knew the book wouldn’t end the story, it would leave it incomplete. It was intense and exciting, but it was the middle book, it didn’t contain the finale, the thrilling ending.

I have to wait for the third and final part, Pythia’s Instructions.

I’m on the waiting list.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

I had to see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, because I’d seen all the previous parts too. My son gave me a sneak peak of what the movie was about, but I had no exact idea.

Visually this movie, as others before, was amazing. Still, it’s my least favorite of the Hobbit-trilogy. Two other movies had some kind of a story, this was just battle.

I have no idea how the story really ends, I haven’t read the book. Some have said that it’s different from the original ending. I can’t say anything about that.

The good thing in all these movies is the performance of Martin Freeman as young Bilbo Baggins. I also like Ian McKellen as Gandalf. Oh, and Smaug has a lovely voice, doesn’t he (I happent to like a Benedict Cumberbatch).

I went, I saw it, it ended the story, I’m going to forget it. Sorry.

Merry Christmas

Thank you all for reading my blog. I want to wish you a Merry Christmas! May your christmas be filled with love, good movies and excellent books.

So Much For That

I picked So Much For That because I liked Lionel Shriver’s book We Need To Talk About Kevin (review here). So Much For That doesn’t rise to the same level, not even close.

I try to be a positive person, but I’m more negative by nature. Regardless of my personality, So Much For That was way too negative for me. Continuous complaining, self-sacrifice and sorrow, unrealistic expectations, irrational and rational surgeries and self-inflected sickness. Too much darkness for me.

But there were also issues of human dignity and dilemmas of modern medicine. There was a daydream that came true when there was only a little time to do it, the last moment to make it real. It made me wonder that when a person has dreams, you should pursue those dreams and make them happen. You should make your dreams come true before it’s too late. The direction of life can change so fast, in a second even. You should be able to enjoy life, not just wait for something better to happen.

Maybe So Much For That wasn’t so bad after all. It made me think and that’s always a good thing. But I can’t say that I enjoyed reading this book, unfortunately I didn’t.

Interstellar

Last sunday I went to the movies with my son and we went to see Interstellar, this time it was my choice.

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar is a movie full of Hollywood pathos. It’s also beautiful, touching and makes you think of what’s coming in the future. Is the earth going to be inviable? When you think about it, we’re talking about big issues here.

In addition to all of that, Interstellar was very entertaining. Both me and my son sat in our chairs, staired the movie, completely focused on what’s happening on the screen. Visually beautiful scenes and interesting plot. It didn’t bother us that the movie was nearly three hours long. I didn’t actually know (all the time, there were some elements that were predictable) what was going to happen nor how would the movie end. It was refreshing.

I have growing respect for Matthew McConaughey. Lately his roles and performances have been quite amazing.

I love Anne Hathaway.

And Michael Caine, well, he’s a legend.

I think Interstellar was much better than Gravity.

The Cuckoo’s Calling

I ordered Robert Galbraith’s book The Cuckoo’s Calling from an online shop. When the book came, I read from the books cover that Robert Galbraith is actually a pseudonym for J.K. Rowling. I was surprised and a little disappointed. Last year I read J.K. Rowling’s book The Casual Vacancy (review here) and it was heavy and dark and left me with an uneasy feeling. But, as I had the book The Cuckoo’s Calling, I desided to give it a change and read it.

I must say that the book was a pleasant surprise and it was worth reading. The story is a traditional crime story and the detective, Cormoran Strike, is one of those unlucky guys that you often meet in crime novels. He brokes up with his girlfriend and at the same time loses his home, has money problems, no customers and he lives in his office. He has a prosthesis in his other leg and traumas from the war, he’s a war veteran.

At the same time he is a very hardworking, intelligent and skilled private detective. He can solve a crime that the police couldn’t. He also tries to get over his stormy relationship with his ex-girlfried and make an employment realtionship with his new secretary.

The Cuckoo’s Calling is entertaining, well written and traditional (if you like traditional). To me it was a positive surprise. I started to like Cormoran Strike. It’s interesting how one author can write books that are so different from each other. Both The Casual Vacancy (which was not a crime novel) and The Cuckoo’s Calling deal with things from the dark side of life. The Casual Vacancy I ended with a heavy heart but The Cuckoo’s Calling I ended with a positive heart, so there was a difference.

Christmas is near and I just hope Santa brings me the new book from Robert Galbraith, The Silkworm.

True Love

When Jennifer Lopez brought her Dance Again World Tour to my city I was excited. It was her first worldwide concert tour and to see her perform was in my To do -list. The evening was one of the greatest moments of my life. The atmosphere in the concert was amazing. I know Jennifer Lopez is not the worlds greatest singer or actor, but she can take her audience and the warmth of her personality really came through. She has this unbelievable aura, she’s magical on stage, she’s beautiful and she is truly a great performer.

When I found out that True Love, her first book, was to be publiced, I was eager to get it and read it. I pre-ordered it and it came to me as soon as it came for sale.

The book is just as beautiful as Jennifer. A lot of pictures and honest talk about her problems with her low self-esteem, lack of self-respect and the divorce form Marc Anthony. Lovely pictures, not just those where she’s all dressed up, but with children and without makeup (she’s so beautiful).

It’s also interesting to read all the details about her Dance Again World Tour. I wish I had had this book before I went to see the concert, because I realised, when reading True Love, how much details and stories there are behind every song and every detail. How much of herself she actually gave us that day. But I must admit, I felt it, I truly did. In a concert as huge as it was, everything is planned, of course. But I didn’t realise that she was telling her story through this concert. Now, when I realise it, it’s even more beautiful and amazing.

I read the book in one day, I just couldn’t let it out of my hands. Jennifer Lopez has been my idol a long time. She has achieved so much by working very hard. Music, movies, perfumes, clother, she’s done it. I wish I had this kind of determination to pursue my dreams. It truly needs determination to achieve as much as she has.

This book is a gift to her fans. If you are not interested in Jennifer Lopez, well, you don’t want to read this book. True Love is a delightful, honest, touching, funny, inspiring and heartbreaking book and I loved it. It’s also comforting to know that no matter how huge a star you are, you’re still a human being with all the problems and happy moments of life.

I can’t judge this books literary value and I think that I don’t have to. Because that’s not the point of this book. The point, to me, was to get to know a little about a woman named Jennifer Lopez. The point also was to enjoy,  see beauty and have a pleasant reading experience. That’s what it offered me. After this book, I’m  bedazzled and full of positive thinking. Thank you!