A couple of funny comic strips brought in by valued GRG'er Kathleen R.!
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, film/tv adaptations of books are hot right now and the Genre Reading Group met last evening to tackle this genre!
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, film/tv adaptations of books are hot right now and the Genre Reading Group met last evening to tackle this genre!
Our next meeting will be Tuesday, September
29th at 6:30pm and the topic up for discussion will be diet, nutrition, and
fitness. I make no promises, but I’ll
try to have some healthy snacking options available at that meeting. It’d be awkward otherwise…
Aaaaannnndddd ACTION!
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
(powells) The Remains of the Day is a profoundly
compelling portrait of the perfect English butler and of his fading, insular
world in postwar England. At the end of his three decades of service at
Darlington Hall, Stevens embarks on a country drive, during which he looks back
over his career to reassure himself that he has served humanity by serving
"a great gentleman." But lurking in his memory are doubts about the
true nature of Lord Darlington's "greatness" and graver doubts about
his own faith in the man he served.
(rottentomatoes) Filmed with the usual meticulous attention
to period and detail of films from Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, The Remains
of the Day is based on a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. Anthony Hopkins plays
Stevens, the "perfect" butler to a prosperous British household of
the 1930s. He is so unswervingly devoted to serving his master, a well-meaning
but callow British lord (James Fox), that he shuts himself off from all
emotions and familial relationships. New housekeeper Miss Kenton (Emma
Thompson) tries to warm him up and awaken his humanity. But when duty
calls, Stevens won't even attend his own dying father's last moments on earth.
The butler also refuses to acknowledge the fact that his master is showing
signs of pro-Nazi sentiments.
Disillusioned by Hitler's duplicity, the master
dies an embittered man, and only then does Stevens come to realize how his own
silence has helped bring about this sad situation. Years later, regretting his
lost opportunities in life, he tries once more to make contact with Miss Kenton,
the only person who'd ever cared enough to seek out the human being inside the
butler's cold veneer. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
The Martian by Andy Weir
(powells) Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of
the first people to walk on Mars.
Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.
After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to
evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely
alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive — and even if he could
get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.
Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death.
The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human
error" are much more likely to kill him first.
But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his
ingenuity, his engineering skills — and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit —
he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next.
Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
The Martian (WOOHOO!!!
THE RELEASE DATE HAS BEEN MOVED UP FROM THANKSGIVING TO OCTOBER 2,
2015!!! MARK YOUR CALENDARS!!! JUST FOR
GOOD MEASURE!!!!)
(rottentomatoes) During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut
Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind
by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on
the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity,
wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive.
Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work
tirelessly to bring "the Martian" home, while his crewmates concurrently
plot a daring, if not impossible rescue mission. As these stories of incredible
bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney's safe return.
Based on a best-selling novel, and helmed by master director Ridley Scott, THE
MARTIAN features a star studded cast that includes Jessica Chastain, Kristen
Wiig, Kate Mara, Michael Peña, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Donald
Glover. (C) Fox
The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham
(amazon) After twenty years spent mastering the art of
dressmaking at couture houses in Paris, Tilly Dunnage returns to the small Australian
town she was banished from as a child. She plans only to check on her ailing
mother and leave. But Tilly decides to stay, and though she is still an
outcast, her lush, exquisite dresses prove irresistible to the prim women of
Dungatar. Through her fashion business, her friendship with Sergeant Farrat—the
town’s only policeman, who harbors an unusual passion for fabrics—and a budding
romance with Teddy, the local football star whose family is almost as reviled
as hers, she finds a measure of grudging acceptance. But as her dresses begin
to arouse competition and envy in town, causing old resentments to surface, it
becomes clear that Tilly’s mind is set on a darker design: exacting revenge on
those who wronged her, in the most spectacular fashion.
The Dressmaker (not available on DVD yet)
(rottentomatoes) Based on the best-selling novel by Rosalie
Ham, this bittersweet, comedy-drama is set in early 1950s Australia. Tilly
Dunnage, a beautiful and talented misfit, after many years working as a
dressmaker in exclusive Parisian fashion houses, returns home to the tiny
middle-of-nowhere town of Dungatar to right the wrongs of the past. Not only
does she reconcile with her ailing, eccentric mother Molly and unexpectedly
falls in love with the pure-hearted Teddy, but armed with her sewing machine
and incredible sense of style, she transforms the women of the town and in
so doing gets sweet revenge on those who did her wrong.
Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters andVirginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love by Thomas Maier
(powells) BeforeSex and the City and Viagra™, America
relied on Masters and Johnson to teach us everything we needed to know about
what goes on in the bedroom. Convincing hundreds of men and women to shed their
clothes and copulate, the pair were the nation’s top experts on love and
intimacy. Highlighting interviews with the notoriously private Masters and the
ambitious Johnson, critically acclaimed biographer Thomas Maier shows how this
unusual team changed the way we all thought about, talked about, and engaged in
sex while they simultaneously tried to make sense of their own relationship.
Entertaining, revealing, and beautifully told, Masters of Sex sheds light
on the eternal mysteries of desire, intimacy, and the American psyche.
(rottentomatoes) The lives of sex researchers William
Masters and Virginia Johnson are depicted in this critically acclaimed drama.
Season 1 begins with Masters (Michael Sheen), a successful gynecologist at
Washington University in St Louis, conducting a secret study of human
sexuality. Soon, he meets Virginia Johnson (Lizzy Caplan), a former nightclub
singer who is now part of the hospital secretarial staff. He enlists her help
with his study, and she quickly proves to be an asset to Masters's work.
Together, they delve deeper than anyone before them into the science of
sex and later become participants in their own research, which takes an
unforeseen toll on Masters's married life.
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
(powells) In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd
never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent
to McLean Hospital. She spent most of the next two years in the ward for
teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital as renowned for its famous clientele —
Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor, and Ray Charles — as for its
progressive methods of treating those who could afford its sanctuary.
Kaysen's memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged
perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their
keepers. It is a brilliant evocation of a "parallel universe" set
within the kaleidoscopically shifting landscape of the late sixties. Girl,
Interrupted is a clear-sighted, unflinching document that gives lasting
and specific dimension to our definitions of sane and insane, mental illness
and recovery."Poignant, honest and triumphantly funny. . . [a] compelling
and heartbreaking story." --Susan Cheever, The New York Times Book
Review
(rottentomatoes) In 1967, after a session with a
psychiatrist she'd never seen before, Susanna Kaysen was diagnosed with
Borderline Personality Disorder-an affliction with symptoms so ambiguous almost
any adolescent girl might qualify-and sent to a renowned New England
psychiatric hospital where she spent the next two years in a ward for teenage
girls. There, Susanna loses herself in an OZ-like nether world of seductive and
disturbed young women: among them Lisa, a charming sociopath who stages a
disastrous escape with Susanna, Daisy, a pampered girl with a predilection
for rotisserie chicken, and Polly, a remarkably kind burn victim. Ultimately,
assisted by the hospital's head psychiatrist, Dr. Wick, and a no-nonsense ward
nurse, Valerie, Susanna, like Dorothy, resolves to leave this Oz and reclaim
her life.
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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
(amazon) Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory is opening
at last! But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners
are: Augustus Gloop, an enormously fat boy whose hobby is eating; Veruca Salt,
a spoiled-rotten brat whose parents are wrapped around her little finger;
Violet Beauregarde, a dim-witted gum-chewer with the fastest jaws around; Mike
Teavee, a toy pistol-toting gangster-in-training who is obsessed with
television; and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave
and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life!
(rottentomatoes) Promoted as a family musical by Paramount
Pictures, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is more of a black comedy,
perversely faithful to the spirit of Roald Dahl's original book Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory. Enigmatic candy manufacturer Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder)
stages a contest by hiding five golden tickets in five of his scrumptious candy
bars. Whoever comes up with these tickets will win a free tour of the Wonka
factory, as well as a lifetime supply of candy. Four of the five winning children
are insufferable brats: the fifth is a likeable young lad named Charlie Bucket
(Peter Ostrum), who takes the tour in the company of his equally amiable
grandfather (Jack Albertson). In the course of the tour, Willy Wonka punishes
the four nastier children in various diabolical methods -- one kid is inflated
and covered with blueberry dye, another ends up as a principal ingredient of the
chocolate, and so on -- because these kids have violated the ethics of Wonka's
factory. In the end, only Charlie and his grandfather are left. Ostensibly set
in England, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was lensed in Germany (as
revealed by the film's final overhead shot). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
(rottentomatoes) Director Tim Burton brings his unique
vision and sensibility to Roald Dahl's classic children's story in this lavish
screen interpretation. Willy Wonka (Johnny Depp) is the secretive and wildly
imaginative man behind the world's most celebrated candy company, and while the
Wonka factory is famously closed to visitors, the reclusive candy man decides
to give five lucky children a chance to see the inside of his operation by
placing "golden tickets" in five randomly selected chocolate bars. Charlie
Bucket (Freddie Highmore), whose poor but loving family lives literally in the
shadow of the Wonka factory, is lucky enough to obtain one of the tickets, and
Charlie, escorted by his Grandpa Joe (David Kelly), is in for the ride of a
lifetime as he tours the strange and remarkable world of Wonka with fellow
winners, media-obsessed Mike Teavee (Jordan Fry), harsh and greedy Veruca Salt
(Julia Winter), gluttonous Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz), and
ultra-competitive Violet Beauregarde (AnnaSophia Robb). Over the course of the
day, some of the children will learn difficult lessons about themselves, and
one will go on to become Wonka's new right hand. Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory also stars Christopher Lee, James Fox, and Noah Taylor; the book was
famously adapted to the screen before in 1971 under the title Willy Wonka and
the Chocolate Factory, with Gene Wilder as the eccentric candy tycoon. ~ Mark
Deming, Rovi
Marvel’s Ant Man Prelude by Will Corona Pilgrim
(powells) Get ready for Marvel's next smash-hit film with
this all-new official prequel! Before Scott Lang becomes Marvel's shrinking
sensation, his predecessor, Dr. Hank Pym, will pull on the Ant-Man helmet and
leap into action on a death-defying mission that will take him into the icy
heart of Cold War East Berlin! Then, thrill to an all-new Infinite-style
adventure set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as explosive new details in the
history of the astonishing Ant-Man are revealed! But can the lessons of his
past prepare him for the trials he is about to face? Plus: Experience Scott
Lang's comic-book transformation into Ant-Man and the first chapter in his
all-new adventures, and witness a dramatic change for the original Ant-Man,
Hank Pym! The action-packed buildup to Marvel' Ant-Man begins here, so get on
board now!
Ant Man (not available on DVD yet)
(rottentomatoes) The next evolution of the Marvel Cinematic
Universe brings a founding member of The Avengers to the big screen for the
first time with Marvel Studios' "Ant-Man." Armed with the astonishing
ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, master thief Scott Lang
must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, protect the
secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering
threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull
off a heist that will save the world. -- (C) Marvel
Shrek! by William Steig
(powells) Before Shrek made it big on the silver screen,
there was William Steigs SHREK!, a book about an ordinary ogre who leaves
his swampy childhood home to go out and see the world. Ordinary, that is, if a
foul and hideous being who ends up marrying the most stunningly ugly princess
on the planet is what you consider ordinary.
(rottentomatoes) Once upon a time, in a far away swamp,
there lived an ornery ogre named Shrek whose precious solitude is suddenly
shattered by an invasion of annoying fairy tale characters. There are blind
mice in his food, a big, bad wolf in his bed, three little homeless pigs and more,
all banished from their kingdom by the evil Lord Farquaad. Determined to save
their home--not to mention his own--Shrek cuts a deal with Farquaad and sets
out to rescue the beautiful Princess Fiona to be Farquaad's bride. Accompanying
him on his mission is wisecracking Donkey, who will do anything for Shrek...
except shut up. Rescuing the Princess from a fire-breathing dragon may prove
the least of their problems when the deep, dark secret she has been keeping is
revealed.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
(powells) The year is 1945 and Claire Beauchamp Randall, a
former British combat nurse, is on holiday in Scotland with her husband,
looking forward to becoming reacquainted after the war's long separation. Like
most practical women, Claire hardly expects her curiosity to get the better of
her. But an ancient stone circle near her lodgings holds an eerie fascination,
and when she innocently touches one of the giant boulders, she's hurtled
backward in time more than two hundred years, to 1743.
Alone where no lady should be alone, and far from the
familiar comforts of her other life, Claire's usual resourcefulness is tested
to the limit. The merciless garrison captain so feared by others bears an
uncanny resemblance to the husband she has just left behind. Her own odd
circumstances expose her to accusations of witchcraft. And the strands of a
political intrigue she doesn't understand threaten to ensnare her at every
turn.
But of all the perils her new life holds, none is more
disquieting than her growing feelings for James Fraser, the gallant young Scot
she is forced to marry for her own protection. Sworn by his wedding vows to
keep her from harm, Jamie's passion for Claire goes beyond duty. As she
struggles with the memories of another lifetime, she is forced to make an
agonizing and fateful choice, and learns ultimately that a man's instinct to
protect the woman he loves is as old as time.
(rottentomatoes) While on her second honeymoon, World War II
combat nurse Claire Randall, played by Irish actress Caitriona Balfe, is
mysteriously transported back in time to 1743 Scotland. After an encounter with
a British soldier, she's kidnapped by a group of Scottish Highlanders whose
ranks include an injured young man named Jamie.
Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
(powells) Rebecca Bloomwood just hit rock bottom. But she's
never looked better....
Becky Bloomwood has a fabulous flat in London's trendiest
neighborhood, a troupe of glamorous socialite friends, and a closet brimming
with the season's must-haves. The only trouble is that she can't actually
afford it — not any of it.
Her job writing at Successful Savings not only
bores her to tears, it doesn't pay much at all. And lately Becky's been chased
by dismal letters from Visa and the Endwich Bank — letters with large red sums
she can't bear to read — and they're getting ever harder to ignore.
She tries cutting back; she even tries making more money.
But none of her efforts succeeds. Becky's only consolation is to buy herself
something ... just a little something....
Finally a story arises that Becky actually cares about, and
her front-page article catalyzes a chain of events that will transform her life
— and the lives of those around her — forever.
Sophie Kinsella has brilliantly tapped into our collective
consumer conscience to deliver a novel of our times — and a heroine who grows
stronger every time she weakens. Becky Bloomwood's hilarious schemes to pay
back her debts are as endearing as they are desperate. Her
"confessions" are the perfect pick-me-up when life is hanging in the
(bank) balance.
(rottentomatoes) In the glamorous world of New York City,
Rebecca Bloomwood is a fun-loving girl who is really good at shopping--a little
too good, perhaps. She dreams of working for her favorite fashion magazine, but
can't quite get her foot in the door--until ironically, she snags a job as an
advice columnist for a financial magazine published by the same company. As her
dreams are finally coming true, she goes to ever more hilarious and extreme
efforts to keep her past from ruining her future.
The Constant Gardener by John Le Carre
(powells) Frightening, heartbreaking, and exquisitely
calibrated, John le Carré's new novel opens with the gruesome murder of the
young and beautiful Tessa Quayle near northern Kenya's Lake Turkana, the
birthplace of mankind. Her putative African lover and traveling companion, a
doctor with one of the aid agencies, has vanished from the scene of the crime.
Tessa's much older husband, Justin, a career diplomat at the British High
Commission in Nairobi, sets out on a personal odyssey in pursuit of the killers
and their motive.
A master chronicler of the deceptions and betrayals of
ordinary people caught in political conflict, le Carré portrays, in The
Constant Gardener,the dark side of unbridled capitalism. His eighteenth novel
is also the profoundly moving story of a man whom tragedy elevates. Justin
Quayle, amateur gardener and ineffectual bureaucrat, seemingly oblivious to his
wife's cause, discovers his own resources and the extraordinary courage of the
woman he barely had time to love. The Constant Gardener is a magnificent exploration of
the new world order by one of the most compelling and elegant storytellers of
our time.
(rottentomatoes) When a British diplomat's wife -- a
socially-conscious lawyer -- turns up dead in Kenya, he sets out to find the
truth surrounding her murder. In the process, he finds out that his wife had
been compiling data against a multinational drug company that uses helpless
Africans as guinea pigs to test a tuberculosis remedy with unfortunately fatal
side effects. Therefore, those who may have had the most reason to silence her
are closer to home than he ever imagined.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carre
(powells) The man he knew as "Control" is dead,
and the young Turks who forced him out now run the Circus. But George Smiley
isn't quite ready for retirement—especially when a pretty, would-be defector
surfaces with a shocking accusation: a Soviet mole has penetrated the highest
level of British Intelligence. Relying only on his wits and a small, loyal
cadre, Smiley recognizes the hand of Karla—his Moscow Centre nemesis—and sets a
trap to catch the traitor.
(rottentomatoes) Based on the classic novel of the same
name, the international thriller is set at the height of the Cold War years of
the mid-20th Century. George Smiley (Gary Oldman), a disgraced British spy, is
rehired in secret by his government - which fears that the British Secret
Intelligence Service, a.k.a. MI-6, has been compromised by a double agent
working for the Soviets. -- (C) Focus Features
(amazon) "Marvelously riveting" --The New York
Times "Scintillating, seductive" --The Washington Post
The thrilling sequel to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Tell Max it concerns the Sandman…
Both had supposedly outlived their usefulness to the Circus,
the British Secret Intelligence Service: George Smiley, the retired head of
espionage, and General Vladimir, an aging informant who reported to him. When
the general walks into a bullet after sending an urgent message to his old
handler, the Circus asks Smiley to "tidy things up." But Smiley hears
Vladimir’s message as a call to arms against his nemesis, the Soviet super spy
Karla, once again tantalizingly within his grasp.
Alec Guinness reprises the role of British spymaster George
Smiley in this gripping sequel to the television masterpiece Tinker,
Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Filmed on location in London, Paris, Hamburg, and Berne, Smiley’s
People also stars Eileen Atkins, Anthony Bate, Bernard Hepton, Michael
Lonsdale, Beryl Reid, Patrick Stewart, and Bill Paterson.
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