january book and film review

In what will become a monthly feature, I now offer a list of books read and films seen (for the first time) in January.

BOOKS-

THE SUMMONS AND THE KING OF TORTS, BY JOHN GRISHAM. I promised myself an "easy" book after the rigours of Ulysses, and these were they. Grisham is a good story teller who possesses that seductive skill of making the reader feel intelligent, which is one reason he is so marketable. But I needn't go there again.
3 TALES, BY GUSTAVE FLAUBERT. 2 of them have received less than fulsome praise over the years, but "A Simple Tale", the story of a chambermaid's life is an almost perfect jewel- one of the best short stories ever written.
DUBLINERS, BY JAMES JOYCE. 14 beautifully wrought tales of Irish lives. Many of the characters appear later in his greatest work.

FILMS-

THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE, D- LUIS BUNUEL. (1973) When Bunuel's good, he's fantastic, and when he's poor (and this isn't his greatest work), he's still pretty good.
MADAGASCAR (2005)D- ERID DAMELL. mainstream family entertainment; moderately enjoyable animation.
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (remake) (2008)D- SCOTT DERRICKSON- appalling, talentless crap. One thing I did like though: in this film, unlike the first, it becomes clear why the aliens threaten the Earth with destruction: Keanu spells out that it's the humans he's after, so that the planet itself may be saved. "Only a few planets are capable of supporting complex life, and we cannot allow it to be destroyed" I did like that.
COALMINER'S DAUGHTER- ((1980) D- MICHAEL APTED. Cissy Spacek rightly won an Oscar for her highly authentic portrayal of country music legend Loretta Lynn.
SAVE THE LAST DANCE ((2001) d- THOMAS CARTER. Julia Stiles launched her career with this film which proved popular, but IS actually pretty pedestrian.
PHANTOM OF LIBERTY (1974)D-LUIS BUNUEL. The great magician back to his best form, with a film that is funny, subversive and deeply disturbing from start to finish.
LAKEVIEW TERRACE ((2008)D- NEIL LA BUTE. High production values, but the writing just isn't there to make it in any way memorable.