Category: Review

Brittany Runs a Marathon Paul Downs Colaizzo (2019) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Tennyson-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’77’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Running a marathon is one of the most difficult achievements in the field of sports. Not because it takes remarkable athleticism, like hitting a 100 mph fastball, or throwing a touchdown pass against an NFL… Continue reading Brittany Runs a Marathon

East of Eden John Steinbeck (1952) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Shakespeare-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’76’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Ruud Rating 4 Shakespeares [/av_image] Having read and enjoyed John Steinbeck’s classics Of Mice and Men and the The Grapes of Wrath during my senior year of high school back in 1968, and spurred on by renewed interest in… Continue reading East of Eden

Blinded By the Light Gurinder Chadha (2019) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Tennyson-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’77’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] In 1927, the movie industry was revolutionized by Warner Brothers’ release of The Jazz Singer—a musical drama that featured the first sound dialogue and the first synchronized recorded musical score, including six songs performed by Al Jolson, the… Continue reading Blinded by the Light

Baudolino Umberto Eco (2000) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/3-12.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Three Tennysons/Half Shakespeare[/av_image] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] The historical Baudolino was an early eighth-century saint who lived in the Piedmont area of northwestern Italy. A hermit reputed to have prophetic powers, Baudolino eventually became the patron saint of the… Continue reading Baudolino

The Art of Racing in the Rain Simon Curtis (2019) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Tennyson-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’77’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] The Art of Racing in the Rain was a huge bestseller for author Garth Stein in 2008, the sort of novel that cries out to be made into a movie, since it will have… Continue reading The Art of Racing in the Rain

Wonder Boys Michael Chabon (1995) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Shakespeare-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’76’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Ruud Rating 4 Shakespeares [/av_image] A lot of readers know Michael Chabon mainly for his epic 2001 Pulitzer-Prize tour de force The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, the kind of book that gets permanently in your head… Continue reading Wonder Boys

Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood Quentin Tarantino (1969) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/3-12.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Three Tennysons/Half Shakespeare[/av_image] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] Most moviegoers these days think of 1969, if they think of it at all, as a vague time in the distant past when men first landed on… Continue reading Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood

The Perfect Nanny Leïla Slimani (2018) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/3-12.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Three Tennysons/Half Shakespeare[/av_image] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] Leïla Slimani won France’s most prestigious literary award, the Prix Goncourt, for her 2016 novel Chanson Douce (literally “Sweet Song”).  She is the first Moroccan woman to be so honored, and… Continue reading The Perfect Nanny

Catch-22 Hulu (2019) Okay, I know this is my week to review a book, but I’m putting a bit of a twist on it and reviewing a currently streaming miniseries made from a book. And not just a book: the novel that in my own humble (well, not all that humble) opinion is the greatest American… Continue reading Catch-22

Spider-Man: Far from Home Jon Watts (2019) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Tennyson-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’77’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Jake Gyllenhaal was at one time tapped to replace Tobey Maguire in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 because Maguire’s health problems threatened to scuttle the film, and Raimi wanted someone who resembled Maguire to take over the part.… Continue reading Spider-Man: Far From Home