The Meg

During my day off this week, I got a chance to see the national blockbuster The Meg.  Not a perfect movie, a little on the cheesy side, but a lot of fun and definitely worth seeing. It's directed by the same director who did National Treasure, and it has that same rewatchable quality to it. And Jason Statham is in fine, gravel-voiced form, playing the mysterious hero and tough guy who will, of course, *spoiler* eventually take out the sharks. Watching everyone get from point A to point B is a lot of fun, though, and there are some great weapons and gadgets thrown in to help fight the sharks. What summer movies are made of. Recommended!

Black Sunday book and movie

I recently finished reading the novel Black Sunday by Thomas Harris. It has everything you could want in a Thomas Harris novel (except for Hannibal Lecter!), great character development, great suspense, all building up to an inevitable climax! The settings and descriptions are grim, but that doesn't make the action any less satisfying or the plot any less compelling. This story of a terrorist attack on the Super Bowl works great as a book and as a movie (by John Frankenheimer, which I've also seen); I like both, even with the happier ending used in the movie.  Both are recommended!

Phantom Thread

I recently saw Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day Lewis’s recent film, Phantom Thread. It’s a great film, a perfect jewel of a movie in many ways, with no clear defects. DDL’s character is intriguing but offputting, and his continual sparring with his girlfriend, and it’s poisonous climax, is sort of like watching a macabre yet funny dance. How cool is it that the final scene in the end really IS a dream? Recommended!