B16: Open City by Teju Cole (258 pages)

"This strangest of islands, I thought as I looked out to the sea, this island that turned in on itself, and from which water had been banished. The shore was carapace, permeable only at certain selected points. Where in this riverine city could one fully sense a riverbank? The water was a kind of embarrassing secret, the unloved daughter, neglected, while the parks were doted on, fussed over and overused."

I loved this debut novel by Teju Cole. It is written with an original voice and is built around the curious yet sometimes dubious interactions with everyday people that the main character encounters. There is a reason reality television is so popular, we as a culture are fascinated with people of all types and colors and sizes interacting with each other in an unexpected way that produces an organic sense of drama. This book follows Julius through the streets of New York and Brussels plotting out his encounters with the people around him. These streets take on a life of their own and force Julius to look deep into himself as he strives to become a more complete human.

Besides loving this book for its simplicity, it is masterfully written. If you are telling a story without there being a true story, you had better excel at capturing your audience with your ability to write. Teju Cole is a brilliant author and this book really feels like you are gazing a painting rather than filing through a stack of card stock. It is intelligent and historical. Radiant yet brooding. Soulful and simplistic. Floating through the streets of a new city is something I love to do and I have been to both NYC and Brussels. Cole captures the quintessence of both and brings them alive in his pages. This book is a vacation from most of what sits on the shelves of bookstores today and is something you want to check out. I'll be looking forward to his next trip.

F25: Silver Linings Playbook-Directed by David O. Russell

"It's not my fault! Blame Ernest fu#$^&g Hemingway!"

This film may have been slow at parts, but is worth seeing. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence are both at their best and play fantastic characters with a slightly damaged mental compasses. This movie really comes down to being a unique take on the love story and is set in modern day Philadelphia. 

Pat (Cooper) has just been released form a mental hospital where he has been "rehabilitated" for his  bi-polar disorder. We later learn that he has gone his entire life without being diagnosed, but after witnessing his wife and a co-worker playing patty-cake in the shower, Pat simply snaps. His character is charmingly focused on reconstructing his marriage now that he been released. Tiffany (Lawrence) is not far behind suffering herself from a tragic ending to her marriage and the two form an unlikely connection. The two begin to find comfort in each other's instabilities and off we go. 

I did like this movie and thought that Cooper did a great job of making you believe that he was mentally ill.  There were several scenes that were fantastic in which his character came apart at the seams. Not that I enjoy seeing the train come off the tracks, but Bradley Cooper's dynamic acting in this film is a big change from most of his other work (Hangover, The Words, Limitless) and his effort deserves some applause. Sprinkle in some vintage Robert De Niro as the OCD-Philadelphia Eagles worshipping father and you get a really enjoyable, albeit unorthodox, love story that I recommend checking out. Excelsior!

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj5_FhLaaQQ

F24: Lincoln-Directed by Steven Spielberg

"Don't waste that power."

What a waste. I was really looking forward to seeing this biopic on the Legendary 16th President, but this film simply fell flat. It was stuffy and drab and confusing and most certainly not entertaining. Daniel Day Lewis might very well be the best actor in my lifetime to cross the silver screen and he is a believable Honest Abe. He lumbers around solemnly raconteuring about stopping slavery and scheming ways to garner the necessary delegates needed to pass the 16th Amendment. His acting, along with Tommy Lee Jones' protruding portrayal of Thaddeus Stevens, is commendable and most likely will garnish nominations for upcoming awards. I feel like he did his part only to be let down by the direction of Steven Spielberg. 

I will give Stevo credit for his attention to detail and his selection of a costume designer, as those two aspects of this movie (outside the previously mentioned actors) are just about the only positive things I can say. The garrulous rhetoric, while being most likely very historically accurate, was mind numbing and extremely hard to follow. I did not go to the movie house today to learn about what happened during this terrible stretch in our Nation's past, but rather to see a portrait of a man many people consider one of our country's greatest heroes. Too much time was wasted not focusing on Lincoln but rather the tumultuous events and people that surrounded him. I understand that it is a fine balance of events and character development that make great biopics great, but this one simply did not have it. This film was a wasted opportunity to really commemorate the legacy of dear Mr. Lincoln and was stodgy to say the least. Just because you take a legendary actor and give him the part of a lifetime does not mean that it is going to translate into a great movie and I really struggled to find the pulse of this picture. Instead of wasting two Abe Lincoln's at the theater, I would recommend grabbing the book that was used to loosely guide that events of the film, Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It is worth your time and its pages bring Abe to life in a way that is both enduring, heartfelt and riveting. Trust me. 

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiSAbAuLhqs&noredirect=1

B15: Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks (414 pages)

"Au contraire. It's a delight in the observable beauty of the human body."

Where to begin with this book. Let's start with the word controversial. And redemption. Or lack there of. This book is sure to grab your attention and is a perfect read for any book group out there. It will generate some interesting conversation and quite likely will lead to some heated debates. Meet Kid, a 20-ish year old trying to find his way through life. Kid is observant, nostalgic and wants just to fit in. He loves the idea of being invisible and along with his oldest friend Iggy, a 43 pound iguana, meanders through the streets of a southern Florida town searching for life's answers. He is an arresting character with an unexpectedly salty past; Kid is a registered sex offender.

We follow Kid and a handful of other pariahs into their world of coping with life after committing one of societies worst possible offenses. It is a struggle for them to say the least and while Banks does a skillful job of penning memorable characters and story line, the real crux of this book lies in the theme. Is there anything that a person can do that can be considered unforgivable? Is sometimes redemption unthinkable? Is it possible to have a lifetime of good deeds wiped out with one bad mistake and how long does that mistake need to be punished? Also, to what degree do a person's social upbringing play into the equation? Are we all solely to blame for our mistakes?

Kid meets a character named Professor who does believe in second chances and sets out to find a cure for what led Kid into the life he has now been thrust into. The two forge an unlikely bond and both quickly realize that there is a lot that they can learn from each other. I really admire Mr. Banks for tackling such an unusual topic and for the way that he tries to humanize the atrocities committed within its pages. This novel will get people talking, something that any book worth reading should do. Check it out, it is extremely well written and most definitely worth reading.

B14: IQ84 By Haruki Murakami (925 pages)

 "Its 1Q84 now. The air has changed, the scene has changed. I have to adapt to this world-with-a-question-mark as soon as I can. Like an animal released into a new forest. In order to protect myself and survive, I have to learn the riles of this place and adapt myself to them."

Wow. What a book. Having just finished this masterpiece, I feel like I have completed a mental marathon. This work by Murakami is exhausting, ingenious and transcends the art of story telling. While this piece of literature may not be for everybody, it will go down as one of my favorite reads of all time. Words do little justice to describe the overwhelming feeling you get when you are into the book, or rather sucked into its vortex. Too be honest, I am not even sure how to sum up what I just read. But there in lies the magic of this story. This is a book about possibility. And how a human being could possibly dream up the web of details that create this story, is beyond beyond.

The bones of this book are structured around a lost relationship between the two main protagonists, Tengo and Aomame. Set in Japan in 1984, these two characters lead completely ambiguous lives apart from each other. Tengo is an aspiring novelist, Aomame an aspiring assassin. The two were once classmates in elementary school and have been separated for some twenty years, when a series of events begins sets in motion the process of their lives crashing back into one another. Young Tengo is asked to ghostwrite a fairy tale that reveals a little too much about a insidiously secret religious group and Aomame is assigned the task of dispatching the leader of the same group. Their lives are coincidentally thrown upside down and what they believed to be reality is now changed forever. Once the dust settles, they are no longer in the year 1984 (Murakami's homage to another one of my favorites) but rather in the year IQ84, where anything is possible. I can't say enough about how much I loved this book. It is epic, poetic, sexy, hypnagogic and truly an engaging work of art. This book is a must addition to any library and it something that you will not easily forget. It is more that just a love story, it is an experience. Domo arigato sensai Murakami, domo arigato.

F23: The Master-Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

"You are simply awful. A true scoundrel in every sense of the word."

Let's pretend that this movie hasn't been discounted as a time period drama and that Philip Seymour Hoffman doesn't look just like L. Ron Hubbard. Or that the pseudo religion started by PSH's character in this film doesn't sport the same eerily similar tendrils of Scientology. Or that there are not any people in the world that intellectually molest others into believing their far fetched dogma with promises of a grander existence. Lets take this film for what it is: exceptional. The Master will become one of the most talked about pictures of the year once award nominations start being garnered and frankly I am a little surprised at the lack of protest from members of Scientology regarding how their movement is portrayed or even at the very least, what this film is insinuating.

The movie is simple. And dry and brooding and poetic. We are introduced to Freddie Qwell in the opening scenes and quickly learn that he is a tragic, war torn figure willing to drink just about anything he can get his hands on to help him cope with life. Joaquin Phoenix delivers a masterful performance of this memorable character and should hopefully finally take home some hardware for his talents. While out on a drunken escapade, Freddie winds up stowing away on a small charter boat headed for NYC. On board is the surly Lancaster Dodd, a self proclaimed astrophysicist-writer-philosher sent from space to save mankind from our true animalistic selves. Dodd is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of the greatest actors alive in my humble opinion. PSH is a Jedi and his role in the movie is easily worth your time and money. In fact I wish there was a tip jar at the picture house. After Dodd establishes the "Cause", what follows is the unpredictably twisted relationship between Lacaster's cult and the criminal minded Qwell. While this movie may not be the most exciting, riveting, action packed film you see, it will by far stage the highest level of acting you will come across this movie season. PSH and Phoenix are truly remarkable craftsmen and watching their interactions on screen is joy. This review could have taken several different turns as what lies at the heart of this movie is something worth talking and thinking about. While you are here to read reviews and not my rants on human maniputlation, I will end with this: see this film. Then get out there and find somebody to rant about it to. Kaboom.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ1O1vb9AUU

B13: The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (325 pages)

"I climbed the steps and rapped with the knocker a few times. The echo trailed off inside, like ripples on a pond. Fermin, who had assumed a respectful silence and looked like a boy on his first day of school, turned to me anxiously."
 

Fermin and Daniel and the Cemetery of Forgotten Books are back in a book that I have been waiting years for. Carlos Ruiz Zafon is a favorite author of mine and his Shadow of the Wind title is near the top of my all-time favorites. He does not disappoint in this sequel, shining the spotlight on the affable, skirt chasing Fermin and diving into his murky past. When we first met this lovable character he was in tattered rags and his body a sack of bones. Daniel, our spirited protagonist takes him in and nurses him back to life. We now know why Fermin was in the state he was in and what he was coming from that dreaded night that Daniel happens to stumble upon him. After an insidious character shows up at Daniel's bookshop, the past of Fermin begins to come alive, unearthing all of his past secrets that the author has created for us via flashback.

Zafon is a very simple writer of impeccable technique and has mastered the art of character development. All of his stories are intriguing and set against backdrops that reek of adventure. This book is no different and is really a series of fascinating characters that have something unfortunate in common. They have all been arrested and set to rot away in the city dungeon for being outspoken against the dreaded Franco regime of 1940's. Thieves, authors and bohemians alike attempt to weave together a patchwork of humanity in the struggle to survive their individual sentences and the wrath of Warden Valls. Valls is memorable villain who is every shade of odious imaginable. If you have not read Shadow of the Wind, I would highly suggest pulling up Amazon.com and ordering it stat, along with this sister novella. I promise you will enjoy them both immensely and Carlos Ruiz Zafon will become someone whose work you fall in love with.