All the King's Men

If there is a movie about World War I that isn't completely depressing, I haven't seen it. (I don't count Blackadder Goes Forth - that wasn't really about WWI). And of all the depressing events of WWI, the Gallipoli campaign has to be the most wrenching. Masterpiece Theater produced a 2-hour program that examined the fate of one British company sent to Gallipoli. What makes All the King's Men so interesting is that the company was made up entirely of servants from the Norfolk estate of King George V and the entire group vanished on the battlefield, never to be heard from again. The viewer gets to see the men of this ill-fated company, led by the King's steward (Sir David Jason) at home before their deployment. By focusing in on a few characters (including a sweet love story), the film draws the viewer into their fate. Dame Maggie Smith is wonderful as always, portraying Queen Alexandra (who instigates an investigation into the fate of her servants), and all the supporting actors and actresses are good also. You can't help feeling a little frustrated at the naiveité of everyone involved and their unrealistic expectations of what happens on a battlefield, but then they didn't have imbedded reporters piping back graphic accounts into their living rooms every night. It might not have been a gentler time, but it was certainly a simpler one.

TAG Movies

We have three new movies on the shelf that were specifically recommended by our Teen Advisory Group:

Wizards is an animated feature written, produced and directed by Ralph Bakshi. The name might not mean much unless you are an avid fan of animation, but he was the person who created the 1978 version of The Lord of the Rings (it was actually a blend of the first two books in the trilogy). I remember going to see it when it was in the theaters, and found his depiction of the Nazguls very creepy. Wizards is actually an earlier work (1977), but you can see Bakshi formulating his image of elves and fantasy worlds. It even has an edgy, Dr. Seuss-like look to it. An interesting film for fantasy enthusiasts.

Children of Dune is a 4 1/2 hour miniseries that combines the second and third books of Frank Herbert's Dune series. If you loved reading Dune, then you might enjoy this video (or you might not...when people really enjoy a book, they usually have a very definite idea of what the movie should look like, and it's never what the director thinks. Ah well.)

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a gleeful parody of all those Hollywood action flicks. Since it was directed by the same person who wrote the screenplay for Lethal Weapon, the jokes are pretty much spot-on. Vla Kilmer, Robert Downey Jr., and Michelle Monaghan play their parts a bit tongue in cheek, which gives the whole movie its overall feeling of fun and good humor (as well as some murders, fight scenes, and car chases).

Quickie Reviews

Five new books, five one-line reviews for those of you 'On the Go':

Getting the Best Out of College: a professor, a dean, and a student tell you how to maximize your experience by Peter Feaver, Sue Wasiolek and Anne Crossman. Your kids should be required to read this before you sign their tuition check.

One Year to an Organized Life: from your closets to your finances, the week-by-week guide to getting completely organized for good by Regina Leeds. Week One: get rid of the space-sucking slob you live with.

Dinner at Mr. Jefferson's: three men, five great wines, and the evening that changed America by Charles A. Cerami. It gives you an interesting perspective on how bogged-down our current political process has become.

Street Dogs by Traer Scott. Guaranteed to make dog-lovers go misty eyed.

100 Great American Novels You've (probably) Never Read by Karl Bridges. Finally, one of those '100 Best' lists where I can actually check off all the entries: "Nope, haven't read that one either".

500 Tiles

We have a beautiful new book that would be of interest to anyone who likes decorative arts and fine craftsmanship. 500 Tiles: an inspiring collection of international work, edited by Suzanne Tourtillott, is a survey of some of the most creative ceramic artists working today. There is a wide range of styles and themes in this book. Some of the tiles have an Arts & Crafts look reminiscent of the famous Rookwood pottery, while other pieces are like tiny little minimalist paintings or abstract sculptures. There are individual, highly detailed tiles as well as entire installations covering over 20 feet. Grasshoppers, faces, guns, flowers, car grilles, fruit and coffee cups all appear in glimmering colors and voluptuous bas-relief that just cries out to be touched (well, the tiles themselves are 3D. Obviously, the photos in this book are not). Hand-cut, air-brushed, silk-screened, press-molded, slab-rolled, hand-built: these tiles exhibit just about every technique and style you could possibly think of and the results are truly beautiful. This book is well worth sitting down with for a good, thorough browse.

Futuristic Classic

We have a classic new movie on the shelves: Metropolis. Filmed by the acclaimed German director Fritz Lang in 1927, this movie inspired countless science fiction and futuristic films. If you were to take Jules Verne, Erte, and George Orwell and shake them all up together you would get this cinematic masterpiece. A silent film accompanied by the original 1927 orchestral score, this movie is pure eye candy. The acting may be a tad on the melodramatic side, but that was par for the course during the silent film era (as was the heavy makeup the actors wear, which makes everyone look even scarier). For decades this movie has only been available as heavily edited versions, but it has been carefully restored and it is now here in its full-length glory (124 minutes). If you are a fan of science fiction, film history, Art Deco style or avant-garde culture, then you will want to watch this wonderful movie. As a fun party game, you and your friends can try to count all the examples which inspired later filmmakers (the beautiful female robot on the case's cover might look a little familiar to anyone who has seen Star Wars). Or you can go the Mystery Science Theater 3000 route and make up your own fun dialogue - ah, the joys watching silent films!

Make Jane Blush

One of the problems with liking the works of a deceased author is that once you've read all their books, the chance of them publishing a new title is pretty slim (what with being dead and all). Your only option is to move on to a similar author. Having enjoyed Jane Austen, I was then introduced to Georgette Heyer, who had an historian's eye for period detail and speech. She was able to throw just the right amount of Regency-period slang into the dialogue without becoming overwhelming, and she never had her protagonists behave in a manner that wasn't consistent with the time period. Alas, she is also dead, and most modern novels set in the Regency period are completely inauthentic. The dialogue sounds like something from Sex and the City, the plots are ridiculous, and everyone behaves like randy rabbits.
We do have a new book from an author who has attempted to be as true to the time period as possible. Simply Magic, by Mary Balogh, is the final book in a quartet set at Miss Martin's School for Girls. In this installment, Miss Martin herself finds romance with a handsome yet sensitive nobleman with a guilty secret from his past. Balogh has also written a 6-volume series (all beginning with the word 'Slightly') that follows the romantic destinies of the Bedwyn family. The characters in these two series actually overlap, so when you read this new book it's a bit like old home week as familiar faces continually pop up. The writing is relatively good, the plot isn't too farfetched, and aside from a couple of steamy scenes everyone seems to behave with the proper amount of 19th-century decorum. Of all the current spate of Regency romance novels, Balogh's are far and away the best. And fortunately, she's still alive and well.

Botswanan Crime Spree

Apparently the new hotbed of fictional crime is the placid country of Botswana (still waters run deep, I guess). We have the latest installment of the charming cozy mystery series by Alexander McCall Smith - "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency". This new title is The Miracle at Speedy Motors and it's as satisfying as the previous 8 books in the series. There's no serious crime, thrilling action or surprising plot twists but the characters are wonderful and you get a lovely sense of comfort reading these books. Although it is set in Botswana, it is more about personalities and relationships (not necessarily romantic) than it is about setting. I don't usually read cozy mysteries, but I heartily recommend these.
For a different take on Botswana, we have a new novel introducing Detective David "Kubu" Bengu of the Botswana CID. Written by a two-person team under the pen name of Michael Stanley, A Carrion Death makes greater use of the exotic setting than Speedy Motors. Witch doctors, wild animals and political unrest all make cameo appearances in a novel that has a grimmer feel to it. In a way, this is a more traditional crime novel in that there is actually a murder to solve, plot twists to unravel, and the underlying threat of continued violence. The character of Kubu ('hippopotamus' in the Setswana language) is an appealing person, and the reader will hope to see more of him in the future.
Personally, it's almost disconcerting to read another mystery novel using the same place names and geographic features as the McCall Smith books (he doesn't own the word 'Gabarone', but it feels like he does). Enjoy!