John Edward Williams wrote a western back in 1960 about a buffalo hunter who loses it during a hunt he has put together for a naive Easterner who has come west to experience everything he's only read about. It's hard to imagine anyone these days better equipped to portray any level of insanity on film more effectively than Nicolas Cage manages it - even though Cage is barely recognizable here as a baldheaded buffalo hunter. Contributing to the overall effect is Cage's rather subdued manner of delivering his dialogue, making his behavior on the hunt seem even more shocking.
Heck, I'm just happy to see new westerns in theaters again, and I'm hoping that Butcher's Crossing turns out overall to be anywhere as great as the background scenery shown in this official trailer. I've seen Cage in a couple of other westerns, and he's done a credible job in both, so I'm looking forward to seeing this one when it's finally released in late October (it was completed in September 2022).
Keeping my fingers crossed that Hollywood will start taking westerns seriously again at some point
I think that most readers of crime/detective fiction are also big fans of television series based on their favorite reading or offering similar themes and settings. I know I am.
I still remember how completely taken I was by the HBO series The Sopranos back in the day when that kind of programming was still a relative rarity. As soon as that one was done - a whole year between seasons drove me crazy - I was looking for another series to feel that way about and luckily came upon Breaking Bad. Then Breaking Bad spawned the spinoff series of its own called Better Call Saul. Well, you get the idea.
That's why I was pleased to see a short piece from the website Novel Suspects (if you don't know that website, you really ought to take a look at it at this link) that highlights a few books you should consider if "you loved Better Call Saul."
The list includes one true crime title, two crime novels, and one blend of fact and fiction labeled a "true crime novel," something for every taste, and closing the circle from television series to the written word.
Because so many of us are fans of crime fiction, detective series, and police procedurals, I want to mention a television series that I just finished watching last night.
It is a seven-episode series called Delhi Crime that was produced in 2019 by/for Netflix. The approximately-50-minute episodes were filmed over a 62-day period in Delhi, India. The crime being investigated in the show by the Delhi police is based on an actual case that occurred in that city in 2012, and the series covers what happened between December 16 and December 21 of that year as the six suspects were rounded up one-by-one.
Warning: the crime being investigated is a horrifically brutal gang rape of a young woman and the beating of her boyfriend. Even though the rape is not shown on the screen, the horrific details of her injuries are revealed in interrogations and testimony.
No. 2 Investigator with Suspect
The series has been well-received, and even won an "International Emmy" in 2020. The acting is terrific, and the fact that I was completely unfamiliar with anyone in the cast gave the series almost a documentary feel to me. I recommend watching the episodes in the original Hindi language version with English subtitles, as I did. Interestingly, much of the dialogue in that version is in English as the characters seamlessly switch back and forth between Hindi and English. They do that so often and so easily that I have to assume it's the norm there, but it did lead to one unexpected problem: I found it difficult to understand all the English words being spoken by some of the actors - and the subtitles disappeared when English was being spoken by anyone - so my comprehension was actually better when Hindi was being spoken and I was reading subtitles.
Delhi Crime has been renewed for a second season, but that was before COVID-19 landed on the film industry with both feet. So even though, I look forward to a second season at some point, it may be a while. I'm going to go way out on a limb here and admit that this film left me with a clearer picture of street life in India than any novel covering similar material I've ever read. That's about the strongest endorsement of Delhi Crime that an avid reader can ever give to any film.
One of my all-time favorite books is 2016's News of the World by Paulette Jiles. I've mentioned it several times before here on Book Chase, but my enthusiasm (evangelism?) for the book has not lessened one little bit over the last four years. I was thrilled to hear that Universal had a movie version in the works starring Tom Hanks, and now it looks as if that movie will be Universal's Christmas gift to the world.
I'm saddened, though, that it had to come along in the middle of this COVID-19 mess because that means I won't be experiencing its debut on the big screen. That said, here's a look at the trailer dropped by Universal ten days ago:
I understand that Westerns are not for everyone...but please don't cheat yourself out of enjoying the novel and the movie because of that.
Looks like there's another new Jane Austen movie coming out in February 2020, but that's not really why I'm sharing this new trailer for Emma today.
What really caught my attention is how cleverly this particular trailer is edited, and just generally so well done that I would now love to see the movie itself. It perfectly captures the sense-of-humor on display in the novel and leads me to believe that this one could really be fun. What do you think?
It's time for another "Movies for Readers" post, this time on the soon-to-be-released film called Motherless Brooklyn. This one is based on an award-winning 1999 book of the same title written by Jonathan Lethem.
The movie stars William Dafoe, Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin, and Edward Norton, but Norton was really the driving force behind getting the movie made. Norton started developing the novel into a film sometime in the early 2000s, and both Willis and Baldwin are said to have practically done the movie for free because of their friendship with Norton. Norton wrote, produced, and directed the movie.
1999 Book Cover and Author Jonathan Lethem
Shooting of the movie began in early 2018 but was halted because of an apartment building fire that started in an apartment being used as a movie set. A New York fireman was killed in the fire, and the fireman's widow (along with many residents of the building) ended up filing a lawsuit against Norton and his production company. Norton filed his own suit against the building owner, claiming that the man's negligence caused the fire and let it get out of hand before firefighters arrived. (It appears that this is all still ongoing - at least, I haven't been able to find any information regarding any kind of settlement of the suits.)
The story is set in 1950s Brooklyn and the main character of this hardboiled crime thriller is a private detective with Tourette Syndrome. I really like the look of this one, and it makes me want to go back and find the book, another one that flew right by me back in 1999 when it was published. I'm a big fan of Edward Norton and Bruce Willis, and I have generally been impressed by William DaFoe's work (and I can just about tolerate Alec Baldwin's acting) so this is one I want to see.
I don't have Apple TV, and I don't know anyone who does, but I'm hoping that someone can tell me (after this premiers in early November) if their Dickinson series is as weird as it appears to be from this trailer. It is kinda-sorta based on the life of Emily Dickinson, but her story is shown through what some publicist calls "modern sense and sensibility." I just can't believe that this will really work. Is it an atrocity or will it somehow get the Millennials out there to at least recognize Emily Dickinson's name when they hear it? I'm tending to think "dud" more than "atrocity." (I hope I'm wrong and this turns out to be good comedy, but based on what I see here I'm not holding my breath.) I know they are not aiming this one at anyone even close to my age, but just what audience are they going for here? 12-year-old-girls-on-the-bookish-side seems to be a pretty small niche audience to be shooting for. Good luck with that, Apple TV.
We have both Prime and Netflix in this house, and over time I have come to appreciate how unpredictable and surprising the movies on Prime can be compared to those on Netflix. And today, it is one of those Prime movies that has made my day: The Bookshopstarring Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy, Patricia Clarkson, and Honor Kneafsey. The film is based on the supposedly well received novel of the same name by Penelope Fitzgerald (a novel I am completely unfamiliar with). The movie had a very limited showing in the U.S in August 2018, and it is worth searching for on Prime or on disc. Just take a look at this trailer, and you will see what I mean:
This is day number two of my no-reading week, but I did manage to find a fun, book-related movie today to help ease some of the pain of my book-withdrawal. I'm referring to a 2006 movie calledStranger than Fiction starring Will Farrell, Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Queen Latifa.
I suppose thatStranger than Fictioncould be categorized as more of a romantic comedy than anything else, but its unusual plot is what really caught my attention. Will Farrell plays an IRS auditor who hears a voiceover in his head describing everything he does. The voice narrates his toothbrushing technique, his necktie choice, the speed at which he walks to the bus stop, etc., until it begins to drive him nuts. His search for answers leads him, of all things, to a literature professor who recognizes that the narration described by Farrell sounds an awful lot like words from a novel.
And as it turns out, the Will Farrell character is actually the central character of a novel being written by the Emma Thompson character. Farrell, of course, knows nothing about Thompson, but Thompson is equally in the dark about their situation. She has no idea that the character she’s in the process of creating is walking around in the real world. The scary thing for Farrell, is that Thompson has killed off the central character of all eight of her previous novels, so it seems to be just a matter of time before his own turn comes. And then one day, Farrell hears the voice in his head say that, even though he doesn’t know it, his own death is fast approaching.
In the middle of all this, the Farrell character is falling in love with a baker he’s been assigned to audit, a rebellious young woman who purposely underpaid her taxes by 22 percent in protest of how the government uses its tax revenue. So now that he knows that the novelist is about to kill him off, what is our friendly IRS auditor to do?
He starts with a visit to the writer’s apartment - and that’s when things really get interesting.
Stranger than Fiction is fun, but I think it chickened out on the ending it should have had, and that makes the movie’s attempt to pull hard on the heartstrings not very effective. In the end this is kind of a throwaway movie, and I’m a bit surprised that actors like Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman were part of it. But during this no-book week, I’m really, really glad that I found it.
I wish I could understand the visceral negative reaction I had to Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch when I read it back in December 2013 because to this day I still despise everything about that reading experience - and if I understood why that is, I would be able to avoid anything like that ever happening to me again. The book, which went on to win the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was already a darling of the critics in late 2013 so I expected to really enjoy it and even forked out for the hardcover version. In fact, I was already a fan of Tartt's writing, having enjoyed both The Secret History back in 1993 and The Little Friend in 2004. But something went terribly wrong this time and I had to force myself to return to The Goldfinch enough times to finish it. And after I finally turned its last page with a big sigh of relief, I decided not to review the book because I couldn't stand the thought of spending any more time with its characters in my head. I can only even find one ever mention of it on Book Chase, and that was only to include it in a post I did about twenty-first century Pulitzer Prize winners in early 2015. Even then, I couldn't force myself to say much about the book although my aversion to it is obvious:
"Novel with one of the weakest and most unlikable main characters I have encountered in years, this is my least favorite of the twenty-first century's winners. Frankly, I found its message to be a worthy one, but one that was so pretentiously delivered (especially the novel's last few pages) that, in the long run, I regretted wasting reading time on it."
All I can figure is that the main character and his buddy repulsed me so completely by their enthusiastic embrace of the drug culture that I didn't want to spend any time with them there - even via the pages of a book. I found them so weak and so willing to throw their lives away - and to destroy the lives of others in the process - that I could find not one empathetic bone in my body for them. It got so bad that I would have preferred the author just to kill them off and shorten the novel by fifty pages or so, even more if that were possible.
The reason I'm writing this is that I just stumbled upon the trailer for a movie version of The Goldfinch that is apparently being released this September. I watched the trailer out of curiosity, and all those negative feelings about the book immediately came back to me. So let's just say that I'm not going to make the same mistake with the movie that I made with the book.
I always find it difficult to give an answer when someone asks me what my favorite book of all time is because I've enjoyed too many great reading experiences over the years to be able to choose just one - or ten. But if anyone ever asks me which book, of the several thousand I've read, that I hate the most, I know exactly what title will pop into my head before they finish asking the question. So there's that. Here's a link to that 2015 Pulitzer Prize post in which I first forced myself to write something about The Goldfinch.
I am a longtime fan of John Steinbeck novels, and have read just about all of them now, a few two or three times. East of Eden has always been one of my favorites of Steinbeck's books, but until earlier this month I had not gotten around to watching the 1955 film version directed by Elia Kazan. That movie soon became so overshadowed by the premature death of James Dean, one of its young stars, that it is never mentioned today without Dean's death being brought up at the beginning of the conversation - and probably again at the end. James Dean is that big a Hollywood legend. But that left me curious as to whether or not the movie was capable of standing on its own. My answer is yes, but it was not easy for reasons I never expected. This 1955 theatrical trailer will give you a feel for what the film is like (I was particularly impressed with Kazan's direction):
East of Eden, as its title makes obvious, is a retelling of the Cain and Abel bible story, but to Steinbeck's credit his version is a good deal more complicated and nuanced than the original. James Dean plays the bad brother, by far the meatier role, and he eats it up. Richard Davalos portrays Dean's brother, Raymond Massey plays their father, Jo Van Fleet is their mother, and Julie Harris the girl who splits the brothers for good. Too, Burl Ives does a particularly nice job in the role of town sheriff.
This is definitely still a story of good vs. evil, but a large part of that battle is internalized by James Dean in the role of Cal, a young man whose destructive impulses clash mightily with his deep desire for his father's approval. Most of the relationships in the film are complicated ones that evolve over time, sometimes for the better, but most of the time for the worse. What happens to this family and those closest to them is not pretty, and Elia Kazan's actors perform with such an intensity that the film takes on a myth-like tone. And that leads to the problem with the film I didn't expect to have. Some of the acting is just too over the top to feel right for today's viewers, especially the way that James Dean portrayed the self-destructive anguish inside Cal. As I remember one critic saying, most of the time that Dean was on the screen it appears that he is "on the verge of a nervous breakdown." At best, that is distracting; at worst it is downright annoying. Julie Harris is the other actor whose body movements do not appear always to be coordinated with what is coming out of her mouth, and she reminded me of a puppet on a string in certain scenes.
Julie Harris and James Dean
The way that Kazan framed some of his scenes is eye-catching and memorable. I was particularly struck by the scene in which Cal is swinging on a child's swing while talking to his father who is standing on the porch in front of him. The scene is shot from behind the father, and it is mesmerizing to watch the two hold an entire conversation while Cal swings toward and away from his father in the same way that their conversation ebbs and flows. But then Kazan also has the habit of having two of his characters talk while he swings the camera directly behind one of them while the conversation continues. Every time he did that, I was distracted by the visual handicap of not being able to see the speaker's face to help me better judge the mood of what was being said. It just didn't work for me. So there you have it. I don't pretend to be a serious movie critic, and I'm only pointing out my personal impressions of the movie here, but for me this one would rate somewhere between three and four stars out of five. I'd love to hear what you think of it. (And, hey, while we're at it what's with all those fancy sweaters this small town farm boy wears throughout the movie - and that Pee Wee Herman kind of walk he does around town? Sorry...I'll stop now.)
I read a review copy of Where'd You Go, Bernadette? back in 2012 (can't believe it's been almost seven years) and I've been hearing speculation about a movie version for what seems like forever. Well it looks as if the movie is finally going to be released in August and will star Cate Blanchette, Laurence Fishburne, and Billy Crudup, among others. I'm a bit surprised that the official movie trailer reveals so much detail about the plot, but I have to admit that it looks really good. Honestly, I'm just thankful that studios are still making movies for adults; I suppose that all those computer-generated comic book things are subsidizing what I consider to be the good stuff.
In case you are interested in reading the book before its movie version is released in August, I'm re-posting my September 2012 review below to help you make up your mind as to whether or not this one is for you. ======================================================
No one in Seattle really knows much about Bernadette Fox.And that it is precisely why the other mothers at her daughter's prestigious private-school love to gossip about her so much.Oh, they know that her husband is one of the stars on the Microsoft campus, and they all like her bright fourteen-year-old daughter, Bee, just fine.But Bernadette has committed the cardinal sin among the private-school mother set: she refuses to "volunteer" for any of the little jobs that take up so much of their time.
Bernadette does not even pretend that she wants to be involved.Not only does she not speak to them in the school drop-off zone, she doesn't even notice when she runs over the foot of one mother insisting to speak with her.Something is wrong with this woman; they are sure of it, and they are going to make her pay for it.
Elgie knows that something is going on with Bernadette but his top secret project for Microsoft, and the huge amount of money he brings home for managing it, allow him to ignore the problem - or, at least, postpone dealing with it.Things do seem to be going well enough, after all.Bernadette is managing the home front efficiently (although with help he knows nothing about), and Bee is doing so well in her studies that she has qualified to claim her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica.
Then all hell breaks lose, Bernadette disappears, and, after a while, Bee seems to be the only one still looking for her.
Believe it or not, serious as all of this sounds, Where'd You Go, Bernadette is the funniest novel I have read this year.The book, a satirical look at the whole Microsoft/Seattle lifestyle, is filled with laugh-out-loud moments that will have the reader wondering just who the "crazies" in the story really are.But, although it sometimes borders on slapstick, the novel does offer some touching reminders and insights into the relationship between mothers and daughters.It will be young Bee, after all, who refuses to give up the search for her missing mother - even when others are certain that she is lost forever - and the precocious teen is determined to go to the ends of the earth to find her.
Among the memorable "little moments" in the novel, is the scene in which Bee discovers the wonder of Abbey Road, the 1969 Beatles album that was to be the last the band ever recorded.Bee's shock and embarrassment when her mother sings along with every one of the songs - in perfect sync with the recorded vocals - is a smile-inducing reminder that children find it impossible to believe their parents were ever young enough to be "cool."Even Bee, a girl who considers her mom to be her best friend, cannot quite make that leap.
Adding to the fun, Where'd You Go, Bernadette is very cleverly structured to tell its story largely via a series of email messages, handwritten notes, transcripts of conversations, and the like.This places the reader inside the heads of a variety of characters who reveal more about themselves than they want to reveal - probably even to themselves.This one is hard to put down. ===============================================
And as a bonus, here's the video that first caught my attention:
This week's "Movie for Readers" is yet another one based on the great novels from the now-retired pen of Philip Roth: American Pastoral. The novel, written in 1997, is actually part of what became known as Roth's "American Trilogy"(the other two books are I Married a Communist and The Human Stain) and it won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The film stars - and is directed by - Ewan McGregor, an interesting choice for this particular role, Dakota Fanning, and Jennifer Connelly. It is set to open on October 21, 2016. For those unfamiliar with the book, it is the story of a very successful man who suddenly finds his life and his family being destroyed by his daughter's political associations. When she goes on the run, he struggles to figure out the truth of what happened and tries to find her.
This week's Movie for Readers is The Dressmakerstarring Kate Winslet, Liam Hemsworth, Hugo Weaving, Judy Davis, and Sarah Snook. It is set in 1950s Australia and is based upon what is said to have been a very popular novel of the same name by Rosalie Ham first published in Australia in 2000. The book has sold approximately 75,000 copies world wide in total since that initial release. Frankly, I kind of doubt that this is a book or a movie for me, but the trailer does make it appear to be a visually striking one that should appeal to a substantial audience. The film was in theaters last September but is being released on DVD today, so it's out there somewhere. Here's the trailer to give you a better idea of what to expect from The Dressmaker:
This weeks "Movie for Readers" is Indignation, based on the 2008 novel of the same name by Philip Roth. The novel is set in 1951 and involves the main character's Korean War experience, but it is difficult to tell (especially from this trailer) just how closely the film follows the novel's plot. The book focuses on the main character's sophomore year in college and it appears that the movie does the same. Hey, it's Philip Roth, and for fans of Philip Roth that's all we need to know. It's a movie for adults...and those are getting harder and harder to find.
Indignation is scheduled for a July 29, 2016 release. (Movies for Readers No. 25)
I just got an email from GoodReads telling me that this one is opening in a "theater near me" this weekend. It is based on a true, but little known, part of Hemingway's life that perfectly fits the man and the "character" he came to be known as. Definitely a man's man, was Ernest Hemingway.
Unfortunately, I can only find this in three Houston-area theaters and none are within 30 miles of me - and we are expecting another storm late Friday night and Saturday. But I'm still hoping to catch it at some point because this trailer looks good. Movies for Readers No. 24
This week's Movie for Readers is called A Hologram for the King and is based on a Dave Eggers 2012 novel of the same name that was a National Book Award Finalist. It stars the always likable Tom Hanks, Alexander Black, Sarita Choudhury, and Ben Whishaw. The movie will be released on April 22. I have to tell you that the movie seems to have become the target of Saudis all over the world who claim that it is an unfair representation of their country. I also have to tell you that I doubt that a National Book Award Finalist book would be subject to the same charges unless perhaps the book were a deliberate farce or satire that offended those searching for a reason to be offended. I have not read the book, so I can't speak to how closely the movie script follows the plot of the novel, but I'm definitely interested now in seeing the movie so that I can judge for myself whether the unhappy Saudis have a real gripe, or are simply embarrassed about certain aspects of their culture and country being exposed via a more liberal point of view than their own. We'll see.
Too, I also plan to find a copy of the Dave Eggers novel for my TBR stack, so this is a twofer. Movies for Readers No. 23
If there's ever been a movie made specifically for people who read books and admire authors, this just might be it. Genius is about the career of Maxwell Perkins, the man who forever changed the Charles Scribner's Sons publishing house by aggressively seeking and signing younger writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, and James Jones. And that's only part of the man's story. I have high hopes for this one, so keep your fingers crossed.
This is the only trailer material released as of now:
The movie is now scheduled for a late July 2016 release, and it stars Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, and Colin Firth. Frankly, I'm seeing some negative rumblings from a couple of movie sites that make me a bit nervous, but I know I won't be able to resist this one no matter what the critics say. Movies for Readers No. 22
This week's Movie for Readers is based on the 2002 children's novel by Neil Gaiman. The 176-page book was marketed as suitable for readers between the ages of 9 and 12, but I suspect that it might be a little too spooky for kids on the low end of that scale. The movie was released in February 2009, so it should be relatively easy to find (I know that it's on iTunes, for instance). It was directed by Henry Selick who also directed The Nightmare Before Christmas, and it includes, among others, the voices of Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Dawn French, and Keith Davis. It is highly rated as being one of the more creative and innovative children's movies of its day.
If you have children of the right age, this might be a good one to enjoy with them. And critics say this one appeals to adults as much as to children, so even if your kids are long past the targeted age group, you might enjoy this one on your own. Movies for Readers No. 22
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children was a huge YA bestseller in 2012 and I still see copies of the book all over the place. I haven't actually read the book, but its cover is so intriguing that I've probably picked it up and flipped through it at least half a dozen times in the last few years. So...here comes the movie and, from all appearances, it's going to be just as intriguing as the book from which it is pulled. If you or your children are fans of the book, the movie is expected to be released at the end of September 2016. This trailer is a "first look."
