Category: Review

The Way We Live Now Anthony Trollope (1875) Trollope never met an 800-page novel he didn’t like. Like Dickens and other Victorian novelists, Trollope wrote many of his novels for periodical publication, and so they were first published one section at a time—and the more serial installments, the more the writer was paid. When those… Continue reading The Way We Live Now

The Father Florian Zeller (2020) Facts for You: Where to Watch: Rentable on Prime Video ($20), Apple TV, Fandango Now Length: 1 hour 37 minutes  Rating: PG-13 Names You Might Know: Anthony Hopkins, Olivia Colman Language: English  He Said: The experience of watching this film is jarring, disorienting. Less than half an hour into it you are feeling much the same… Continue reading The Father

Minari Lee Isaac Chung (2020) Facts for You: Where to Watch: Rentable on Prime Video, Apple TV, VUDU, Fandango Now  Length: 1 hour 55 minutes  Rating: PG-13 Names You Might Know: Steven Yeun, Will Patton, Yuh-Jung Youn Language: Mostly Korean with English Subtitles She Said: We fired this up in an Oscars-nominated-movie watching quest. I was thinking it would be a… Continue reading Minari

Homeland Elegies Ayad Akhtar (2020) Ayad Akhtar’s Homeland Elegies: A Novel certainly does not read like a novel. I mean, the narrator is a guy by the name of Ayad Akhtar, who is the American-born son of physician parents who immigrated from Pakistan. He was born in Staten Island and raised in Wisconsin, and won a Pulitzer… Continue reading Homeland Elegies

An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser (1925) Does anybody really read Dreiser anymore? I remember being rather unimpressed by The Financier in my course in “American Realism and Naturalism” back around 1970. And I did try Sister Carrie decades later but it left me pretty cold. Nevertheless, in my undaunted quest to read all the books on Modern Library’s list of the… Continue reading An American Tragedy

Pixie Barnaby Thompson (2020) Facts for You: Where to Watch: Rent on Prime Video  Rating: R Length: 1 hour 33 minutes  Names You Might Know: Olivia Cooke, Alec Baldwin, Colm Meaney Language: English He Said: Barnaby Thompson, a successful British producer of such films as Wayne’s World, Hope Springs and An Ideal Husband, tries his hand at directing… Continue reading Pixie

The Vanishing Half Brit Bennett (2020) I remember when I was a kid, back in the dark ages, when dinosaurs roamed the land, a controversial movie came out entitled I Passed for White (1960). My older sister wanted to see it but my parents weren’t too sure it was appropriate viewing. Based on a novel by… Continue reading The Vanishing Half

Nomadland Chloe Zhao (2020) Facts for You: Where to Watch:Included on Hulu Length:1 hour 48 minutes  Names You Might Know:Frances McDormand, David Strathairn Language:English He Said: This is the current movie that everyone seems to be talking about. Or at least posting about. It was released on February 19, in limited release in theaters (which… Continue reading Nomadland

A Promising Young Woman Emerald Fennell (2020 Facts for You: Where to Watch:Rentable on Amazon Prime Length:1 hour 54 minutes  Names You Might Know: Carey Mulligan with supporting roles played by Connie Britton, Laverne Cox, Jennifer Coolidge and Alison Brie Language: English She Said: This black comedy suspense film from emerging creative powerhouse Emerald Fennell (Call… Continue reading A Promising Young Woman

Deacon King Kong James McBride (2020) James McBride is the acclaimed author of the National Book Award winning novel The Good Lord Bird (2013). He also wrote the popular memoir The Color of Water: A Black Man’sTribute to His White Mother (1995), which spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list; wrote the historical World War… Continue reading Deacon King Kong