Gravity. Some critics say it's boring, Neil Tyson DeGrasse says it's fakey, but I liked it.
Seeing humans confront the dangers and vast mysteries of outer space without superpowers or sci-fi weaponry is a nice change of pace. The film brought me back to the era when all kids wanted to grow up to astronauts and the U.S. still had a sense of national unity, purpose and adventure.
If you're going to see it, do it now. It's one of the few 3-D movies worth seeing in that format. The visual effects are mind-blowing and immersive, while Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are as engaging as ever.
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Room 237. I got a kick out of this documentary, which explores some of the wacky critical theories people have about Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of "The Shining."
Maybe "conspiracy theories" is a better phrase for it.
Much like any creative work, one can let his or her imagination run wild over what Kubrick's film is really about. Is it a commentary on the plight of American Indians? Some folks think so. Was Kubrick dropping hints throughout the film that he was involved in faking the first moon landing? Could be.
Crazy stuff. But what I loved most about the movie is that instead of the usual talking head interviews, everything is done in voiceovers while footage from various Kubrick movies and other films plays. The effect is hilarious, emphasizing -- in a lighthearted way -- the absurdity of the commentators' ideas and overblown critical theories in general.
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The Haunting. Speaking of scary movies, this 1963 adaptation of Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" is one of my favorites.
My wife and I watched it with our 15-year-old son the other night -- his first time seeing it. It still holds up, largely due to it's minimalism. It's in black and white. There are no special effects. There's no violence or gore. All the suspense and terror is conveyed via the great performances, imaginative camera work and the sounds of things -- who knows what -- going bump in the night.
Claire Bloom provides a still-edgy subtext to the state of affairs as she taunts/flirts with Julie Harris - the troubled and frightened main character of the piece.
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When They Were Boys: The True Story of the Beatles Rise to the Top by Larry Kane. I'm about three-quarters through Kane's third book about the Beatles (I guess one is technically just about John Lennon) and have mixed feelings about it.
There's no question that Kane -- who accompanied the Fabs on their three tours of the United States in 1964, 1965 and 1966 -- has interesting stuff to say about the band. He also has a huge inventory of interviews he conducted with the group back in those days, when he was a radio newsman. But this book is an odd hodge-podge of those materials and recent interviews with various observers and hangers-on from the Beatles Liverpool and Hamburg days.
There's little new info for fans who have read the key Beatles bios and Kane's writing seems disorganized, repetitive and full of peculiar quirks.
He seems to have an odd nickname for everyone -- Beatles fan club secretary is called "Freda the Believa" -- and he insists on calling the Fabs "John's Boys, " in effort to show John Lennon's early domination of the group.
Another odd thing is that Kane doesn't seem to present straight transcriptions of his radio interviews with the Beatles -- many of which were released on LPs several years back. I'd have to go back and listen, but the quotes in this book and those I remember the Beatles speaking on those releases don't line up. And I doubt that Kane's sources always paused to call him "Larry,"as in "Let me tell you, Larrry," as they do in the transcriptions featured in this book. We get it. You were there. You really talked to these folks.
Also peculiar: Kane complains a lot about Paul McCartney's unwillingness to answer tough questions and about the sycophantic "bubble" that surrounds the ex-Beatle. You get the sense that Larry is peeved that McCartney wouldn't sit down for a long interview with him.
Ringo doesn't get much attention at all, yet there's a long, fairly interesting section that looks at the firing of Pete Best, a topic that seems to fascinate a lot of fans just as the Kennedy assassination continues to trouble some people's minds. I don't find the episode that compelling -- just mildly interesting. It's important to remember that when the Beatles ditched Pete, they hadn't released their first single, let alone become the creators of Sgt. Pepper and cultural icons who still get written about today. They were just a band switching drummers - not trying to ruin a guy's life and consign him to being a footnote of history.
Anyway, I suspect Kane's book will be quickly eclipsed by Mark Lewisohn's upcoming doorstop about the Beatles' early years, in which we'll learn much more about Pete Best and probably his grandfather, too.
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