Review: The Great Gatsby – Francis Scott Fitzgerald

After reading Keith’s review of The Great Gatsby, I decided to read the book prior to watching the film. He is one of the few that read the book and then watched the movie, and wrote a very good review. After that my interest was piqued, I need to be prepared. Best way? Start with the book, progress to the film (hopefully tonight or tomorrow night). In any event, this is my thirteenth book in my challenge.

Nick Carraway is a World War I veteran who moves to West Egg to be a bond salesman after attending Yale. He is barely making it, though he lives in a well-to-do neighbourhood, but he is the neighbour of the the most interesting millionaire, shrouded in eternal mystery: Jay Gatsby. Known for his elaborate and lavish parties, Jay Gatsby is the talk of the town, what with the wild parties every other night. Nick tells the story of the summer of 1922, and a story takes shape.

Nick knows nobody in the Long Island area save his cousin Daisy Buchanan and her husband, Tom. When he attends a dinner there, he meets Jordan Baker, a friend of Daisy’s. They get along and enter into a relationship. Nick finds out that Tom has a mistress, a married woman named Myrtle Wilson, and has the misfortune of being involved in a party where he meets her. As the extravagant parties continue next door, Nick eventually meets Jay Gatsby, and soon they are very good friends – or as good as you can be with someone you know nothing of. Gatsby’s guests are not all invited, but a steady influx of people who will take advantage of any situation. Nobody (invited or not) knows much about the man, where his fortune comes from or what he does, and more often than not they have viscous and dark explanations as to his wealth.

Gatsby confides in Nick his love for Daisy, and that he wishes to meet with her. Jordan fills Nick in on how Gatsby and Daisy were in love long before she met Tom and married. In 1917 they had a romantic relationship. Gatsby has redefined himself as a person and a perception, even purchasing a house across from the bay from her. He is sure that their love is eternal, and that he can convince her to leave her husband, Tom, to start a life with him. He is positive that they can rekindle their romance and that he is able to give her anything and everything her life desires. Nick gets involved with reuniting them, though what happens after that he will have no control over. The awkward reunion turns warm, and soon Gatsby and Daisy spend inordinate amounts of time in each others company, until Tom soon starts suspecting that something is going on that he is not privy to, and the knowledge of his wife’s infidelity angers him greatly.

Soon confrontations abound, accusations are thrown wild, nerves are lost and shady pasts are dredged up. Irrevocable mistakes are made, and love and delusion give rise to decisions being made. Will Daisy and Gatsby rise up, will Gatsby’s driving dream become his reality?

The Great Gatsby scores an 8/10. The style of writing was gorgeous, and the prose beautiful and flowing. The language usage was decadent and superb, painting a picture of the times as well as the events that shaped the story, it really made this book one of the most beautifully written things that I have ever read. The further I read into this book, the more I wished that it had been a set book for me at some point in my academic career, that I could take a more in depth and detailed look into it. However, that will be my mission on my own as I continue. I kept having to remind myself that this book was written in a time where a man screwing around was acceptable, but women did not have such freedom. Gatsby was a fantastical creation, and the book is truly wonderful.

SPOILER: It was truly heartbreaking to see Gatsby was ultimately alone, that nobody came for him, that nobody stood by him. His father felt pride, because evidently Gatsby had achieved what he set out to do. His need to protect his love eventually led to his death and demise. Daisy was shallow, and he was caught up in the dream that he could have it all. He reinvented himself for her, not only himself. 

Review: Seven Psychopaths (2012)

“You didn’t think I was what? Serious? You think I’m not serious just because I carry a rabbit?”
- Zachariah

Marty Faranan (Colin Farrell) is a struggling screenwriter that has been trying to write a movie for ages titled Seven Psychopaths. He is having no luck, and his best friend Billy Bickle (Sam Rockwell) decides to step in and take the reigns, and starts off by feeding Marty some stories about some crazy people. What Marty doesn’t know is that Billy is so intent on helping him write the screenplay that he has gone far enough as to place a classified ad in the paper calling for all psychopaths to contact him and share their stories so that Marty may find that bout of inspiration that he is so desperate for. This way there will be a real inside look, an undeniable link to something that Marty cannot wholly understand or identify with without an inside scoop.

Have a beer. Relax. It is only a crazy gangster’s Shih Tzu!

His first visit is from Zachariah (Tom Waits) who tells him that they were serial killers that hunter serial killers, but that his wife Maggie (Amanda Warren) had left him years ago when he could not assist her in murdering some hippy perceived to be the Zodiac killer. Meanwhile, Billy’s associate in crime Hans Kieslowski (Christopher Walken) is running their business of kidnapping and returning dogs to their owners for hefty rewards. Hans has kidnapped a Shih Tzu named Bonny from her overprotective and psychotic owner Charlie Castello (Woody Harrelson). This helps them nothing when they realize Castello is not looking to give a reward to whomever may return his dog, he is out for blood, and wants to murder the perpetrators.

Marty is rapidly pulled into the Los Angeles underworld due to his friends and their retarded decisions, and his drinking ultimately leads his girlfriend, Kaya (Abbie Cornish), kicking him out. Out of a place to live, and his movie not coming along as famously as he had hoped, the psychopaths start coming to him with their stories, and soon he has enough to fill the book with. He finds out that the stories that Billy has been feeding him are not about fictitious people, but real bona fide people in the world, which unnerves Marty just a bit.

Such a handsome cravat of a time long past

Hans’s wife, Myra (Linda Bright Clay), is fighting cancer in the hospital, but is murdered by Castello when he makes the connection between Hans and his missing pet, Bonny. Hans no longer has anything to lose, and soon he, Billy and Marty flee to the desert, and the two become very involved with helping him to write his screenplay, and make it a success. Naturally, they grow closer, and though Marty cannot believe that he was sucked into all of it, he is still enjoying the thrill in one of those worrywart manners.

The normal and the psychos

Stuck out in the desert with a stolen pet, are they able to avoid Castello and return the Shih Tzu and get away with it, or are they going to go down in an emotional shootout like Billy wants them to? Will Marty ever finish his screenplay and have it become a crazy big movie, all the while kicking his alcohol habit?

Seven Psychopaths earns a 7/10. I enjoyed sections of the movies, while at times I sat there, mouth agape. It is sharp and smart and most definitely weird, and Christopher Walken delivers another solidly amusing character. You can actually have a look at a “psychopath” in this film, and while it leaves you feeling a little strange at times, at others it is simply hilarious how it all goes down. Woody Harrelson just cracks me up, and the logic of these people in this movie was absolutely absurd, no matter how you look at it. The film jumps between the story as it is happening, the psychopaths and their antics, as well as the screenplay that everyone is assisting Marty with. It was a very good watch, and it was a load of fun, though I don’t feel it deserved to be hyped up as much as it was.

James Bond: 50th Anniversary DVD Box Set

Oooooh thank you, Mother! What a fantastic, wonderful and highly appreciated gift! I am going to watch so much Bond it is going to come out of my ears, I can tell you! Ricky told me I am on my own, he is not spending a month or so watching Bond. Never fear, I’ve got this!

In any event, I thought that I would post a review on what the box set actually looks like. I mean prior to ordering it I could find virtually nothing to actually show me hands on what this set looked like. Apart from a lone video or two on YouTube, I was going in blind. There was slightly more to view if you bought Blu-ray, but not enough on the DVD set. So this is more for the people who, like me, would like to have a good look at what they are buying, and for those who are not always buying Blu-ray.

Also, I am going to start a Bond Friday, so until I have finally watched all of these movies, there will be a Bond review at the end of each week.

The exterior of the box set is stunning. It is a sturdy gloss box cover (sort of like the really nice hardcover books that you get, the coffee table ones). It features the six 007′s from the last five decades, with a gorgeous gold swirling and BOND 50 emblazoned over the front. The spine pronounces the celebration of fifty years of Bond. The base of the box has a list of the twenty two Bond movies contained in the set.

As you can see, it is a slot box. A stunning black book-type slips from the case, plain black with BOND 50 stamped onto it in gold lettering. It is also on the back of the box.

It looks very pretty once taken out. As you can see, it is plastic “pages” so to speak that hold the DVDs in the book-type folder. The materials used are truly lovely, feel fantastic, and there is no cheap feeling about the set whatsoever; the construction is wonderful!

Inside the box set, the first five Bond actors appear on the left and the inside fold. The DVDs are stacked two to a page, and they are all a uniform black with a grey 007 on each one, and a gold title for each film.

Another depiction of the pages and the look of each disc. They clip in and out of the holders nicely, and the first DVD does not have to be removed to take out the second one, seeing as the first one is set slightly higher, so the second one just slips out beneath it should you want to watch the bottom one.

The box set includes a slot for Skyfall, which I own and was incredibly eager to put in, so my pictures show Skyfall as a part of the box set already. The fact that there was a space for the movie was so great, because it means the box set gets to remain pretty uniform, and has an added kick, keeping all the movies together. Granted, the DVD lable is one that is different, but that is completely alright!

Taking Skyfall out of the predefined slot that was inserted, Daniel Craig joins the Bond lineup right at the back.

The films themselves are great, having the video and audio remastered, it looks and sounds beautiful, and the menus are pretty cool, too, giving the options to “Initiate Mission”, “Mission Select”, “MI6 Commentary” or “Language Decryption”. This truly is a gorgeous box set, whether for yourself as a fan or someone you know. It looks so nice in any collection, and is worth the spend!

Review: Skin Privilege – Karin Slaughter

Skin Privilege is also referred to or knows as Beyond Reach in the US. It is book six in the Grant County series, as well as the final entry. In relation to my book challenge, this is book twelve for me.

Grant county pediatrician and coroner Sara Linton and police chief Jeffrey Tolliver have finally tied the knot. However, things have not been easy due to a family of Sara’s clinic suing her for malpractice over the death of their son, Jimmy Powell. As if things could get no worse, and Sara any more despondent, they are called out to Reece, detective Lena Adams’s hometown. She has been arrested, and Jeffrey is to go through immediately.

Upon arrival, they discover that there has been a murder, and Lena was found at the scene of a burning Escalade (that had a victim inside) with the gasoline drum under her foot where she sat at the school bleachers. As much as Sara dislikes Lena, she cannot see Lena burning someone to death. When they are there, they find that Lena has literally not said a word to anyone, and that her uncle Hank Norton is missing. The Reece officials are not the nicest or most accommodating lot to work with, and Jeffrey is soon agitated with their lack of cooperation.

Lena makes a grand escape from the hospital she was being held at. There are things that she needs to find out for herself, such as her real past with her family, as well as why Hank ended up back on meth, and why there are skinheads supplying him his drugs. The more she digs, the deeper the pit gets, and the less answers she has to turn to. The Brotherhood of the True White Skin seems to be in the thick of all of this, but connecting it all back together is a seeming impossibility, and Jeffrey is stubborn enough to not leave, though Lena begs and wants him out of there for his safety.

Sara is drawn into performing the autopsy on the body from the Escalade, and before anyone can do anything, all hell breaks loose. Sara is brought another body, and she cannot help but wonder about the situation they are on, and to be angry at Lena for dragging them into such a mess again. Jeffrey is chasing down all sorts of leads that might help him come close to finding Lena to help her and get this mess straightened out, including visiting her ex Neo-Nazi boyfriend Ethan Green (previously White), whom he locked up for parole violation on what they both knew was a setup. Will they ever really know what is going on and who is involved? Will Lena ever get off of her high horse and allow anyone to help free her from the reality that she has woven for herself?

Skin Privilege earns a 9/10. This book was amazing. Granted, it was told out of sequence and that might throw a few people (confuse them, that is, not put them off), but it was told precisely like it needed to be to convey the correct feeling and message. The book was highly emotional, what with Lena fighting past demons and the desperation of saving her uncle. Then there is Jeffrey and Sara and their quest to adopt a child and start their very own family. This book was phenomenal, with a good story. You feel a part of it, the disjointed feel and not knowing what the hell is going on. Well done on that front. The conclusion of this book shocks me each and every single time, but it will never lose me as a fan. It is such a sore topic, and Karin Slaughter implemented it well. The first time I read it I went into a week long depression. Her characters are so well written and researched and presented that you get overly attached to them, so any joy they feel, you feel, and pain they feel, you feel. The writing was great, the story was solid, the events spine-tingling. As much as joy enjoy what you read and feel the hurt and pain, it is fantastic, and I can understand why the series concluded as it did. I just need to mention this whole thing about the “fans” all freaking out at her and dropping her and hating on her for this book. That is really not cool. She is a writer, and a damned good one at that, and she is entitled to do with any given novel what she wants to at any given time. It is her work, and no one else’s. I have just been reading about what other people had to say about it all, and they have been pretty cruel and nasty. I mean really now, people? It just means you have no faith in what she did with the story or how it will progress from here. Shocked. I will be a lifelong fan, of that I am sure! Oki, rant over. But aside from that, overall this book is so worth the read!

Review: The Cabin In The Woods (2011)

“An army of nightmares, huh? Let’s get this party started.”
- Dana

Five friends venture out to Curt’s (Chris Hemsworth) cousin’s cabin in the woods in an RV, no reception, no people, nothing. Typical damn horror. Dana (Kristen Connolly) is dealing with heartbreak after the teacher she was seeing/sleeping with leaves her. Together the friends set out, stopping at a creepy gas station on the way and meeting up with a scary guy, Mordecai Harbinger(Tim DeZarn).

Meawhile, some agency is pulling together what seems to be an impossibility, taking bets, running around and cooking up something we have no clue to. They seem to be focused on the cabin in the woods, and the occupants that are advancing on it. Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) and Hadley (Bradley Whitford) are in charge of the show, and to dictate how it will play out.

Stick together? Nah!

Back at the cabin, Holden (Jesse Williams) is truly being sold to Dana, and their stoner friend Marty (Fran Kranz) seems to be along for the ride is all. However, when a game of truth or dare takes the friends down into the cellar, things get weird. It is filled will all sorts of arb and random objects, and everyone finds something that pulls them to it. Dana reads from an old diary while Marty objects as vehemently as a stoner possibly can, and the Latin inscription resurrects a “Zombie Redneck Torture Family”, who hunts them all down. They have been chosen. Curt and his girlfriend Jules (Anna Hutchinson) and are the first to realize this, and only Curt makes it back to enlighten the others.

Soon they wish to barricade themselves in to the cabin, to make a stand, to survive, but Sitterson and Hadley have other ideas, and manipulate the environment of the cabin to such a degree that survival does not seem likely. Will the friends realize what is going on, or will Hadley and Sitterson obtain their objective that they have been set?

When your bong is your lifesaver

A 7/10 for The Cabin In The Woods. I liked it, I really did. The end might have been a bit extreme, but it all makes sense if you have watched it all. Definitely not your average or stereotypical horror, though that is naturally your first impression when you see the friends, the road trip, the cabin. I mean, let’s face it, how many movies have we seen go down that very path? This, however, was very refreshing. I have got to give Marty props for the coffee cup bong, apparently weed saves lives. But on a more serious note, it was nice, it had a better twist than I have seen in a while, and all these things deserve mention and merit. I was a bit surprised to see Chris Hemsworth in a role like this, but no worries, it was not too distracting to see him this far out of what he normally does. It was also damn funny at times, and though it was predictable at places (typical horror scenes, but the plot twist was not as foreseeable)  the film was exactly what it needed to be: entertaining. The movie was only just over an hour and a half, but for some reason it felt longer to me, though not in the bad oh-my-soul-it-is-never-going-to-end kind of way. At first glance, the ending seems a bit disappointing, but in retrospect it was actually exactly how the film needed to end, wrapping everything up pretty neatly. I would recommend watching The Cabin In The Woods, a nice twist and bags of fun.

The most awful English word

The Mentalist: Season 2 (2009 – 2010)

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*

Synopsis: Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) works a case with the team, and is angry and horrified when he is informed at CBI by Supervising Agent Virgil Minelli (Gregory Itzin) that they have been removed from the serial killer Red John’s case. Special Agent Sam Bosco (Terry Kinney) steps in to take over, and there is instant animosity between him and Jane. Special Agent Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) has a history with Bosco, having been a close colleague as well as his subordinate for many years a long time ago. Jane is frantic to get back into the loop, and crosses numerous boundaries to get back there, including planting a listening device in Bosco’s office. Jane is incapable of sharing the Red John case with anyone, and as it is it took ages to let Lisbon in on his hunt, though she is not as much a part of it as she would like to think.

Lisbon is skiving her counselling after having thought she was going to die and then watching Jane kill Sheriff Dumar Hardy (Michael Mosley). Lisbon is anxious about letting people into her life, and matters do not improve when Lisbon is in the crosshairs when her prints show up at the murder of a child rapist. Bosco takes over investigating Lisbon, who cannot remember where she was the night in question. Jane, Special Agents Grace Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti), Kimball Cho (Tim Kang) and Wayne Rigsby (Owain Yeoman) all get deeply involved with saving Lisbon, and make many enemies within the CBI on their way.

Sam Bosco has Jane thrown in prison when it comes out that Jane had his office tapped, and the teams are once again at odds. Lisbon is so angry with Jane, who went to jail instead of resigning from the CBI, as per Boso’s suggestion. The men do not seem to be getting along any better at all. Jane beats the rap, though, when Lisbon begs Bosco to release Jane, and threatens to expose a mistake from their past. Jane and Bosco sort of make amends when they are thrown together for a case, and through all the snipping and fighting, they end up understanding something about each other: Bosco is damn good at what he does, and though Jane is not a cop, there is a reason the CBI keeps him on – he has a fresh perspective, and an uncanny way of uncovering the truth. The two reach a mutual agreement to move past their differences, and Bosco lets Jane have the information that they have on the Red John case.

Differing opinions

Van Pelt and Rigsby finally cross over the forbidden line and start a relationship with one another, and they are terrified the office finds out as it is against regulations. Lisbon decides to let the matter slide, pretending she knows nothing, just to ensure one of her agents does not have to leave the unit. On a murder investigation one morning, the team returns to CBI Headquarters, Patrick on his way up to Bosco, who would like to share new Red John information with him. Upon arrival, however, they walk into a slaughterhouse: Bosco and his team have been shot to death in the CBI offices. Bosco is the only one that is barely hanging on, and is rushed to the hospital immediately. The case becomes a priority, though Jane is insistent on investigating the case that they initially started with. This directly proves Red John was involved in both the shootout as well as the case of the morning.

It seems that Bosco and his men were on to a mistake from Red John’s past. It may very well be his only mistake ever, and he is now coming back to clean up the mess. The CBI is raw with emotion, and Virgil Minelli gets very angry with the press vultures. Hunting through the case brings some sad information to the fore: Red John has infiltrated pretty much every branch of law enforcement, etc. Bosco’s secretary, Rebecca (Shauna Bloom), is in cohorts with Red John, and does his bidding blindly. Red John wanted Jane to have his case back, and in so eliminated all competition. Rebecca dies in custody (though not at the hands of any of the cops), and Bosco speaks to Jane frankly – find Red John, kill him. No court, no jury, no conviction, just kill him. Jane takes this to heart, and Bosco passes away.

The CBI is not dealing with the loss of so many agents slaughtered in their own back yard, and the universal coping mechanism seems to be just not talking about it, not giving it any credence. Also, Minelli has thrown in the towel, and everyone seems to be taking that rather hard. An episode takes us to flashbacks of Jane’s past, and how he got into the whole “psychic” thing, and how he learned to perfect his talent, as well as show how his character developed over the years, resulting in the arrogant psychic that mocked a serial killer.

Someone else’s big boy toy

Jane meets an eccentric billionaire, Walter Mashburn (Currie Graham), who is overly interested in Lisbon, and desperate for a new thrill that money can evidently not buy him. Jane gives him the satisfaction, and the two seem to get along very well, and crack me up the entire time. Cho gets pulled into a personal drama when a childhood friend is murdered, and he will not help seeing as he thinks it is gang related, and he has broken all ties and left that in the past. The whole team gets involved when Jane will not let it go that Cho will not help, but after he and his girlfriend are attacked at his home, he is on the warpath.

The CBI finally gets their new boss, Madeleine Hightower (Aunjanue Ellis). She seems pleasant enough, but points out soon enough that if Lisbon cannot keep Jane in check, she will get rid of Lisbon, not Jane. Jane is the asset that she is not prepared to lose, but she is over the tomfoolery she knows comes with Jane. This gets awkward when Jane makes it clear that he will do what he likes, but that he will leave just as quickly should anything be done to Lisbon, and that when she is under duress and unhappy, it affects him. Hightower seems to make some arrangements. With her there, things change heavily. Hightower gives Van Pelt and Rigsby the ultimatum: either they continue their relationship and one of them leave, or they call it quits. Van Pelt ends the relationship, leaving a wake of heartbreak and bitterness behind.

Jane meets his newest adversary who seems to have ties to Red John, charismatic cult leader of Visualize, Bret Stiles (Malcolm McDowell). The two spar constantly, and Stiles is smart, throwing his weight around. Hightower backs Jane, and this causes some friction in the balance of power. “Psychic” Kristina Frye (Leslie Hope) returns to help Jane on a case, and again the two are not seeing eye to eye. However, Hightower thinks it may be time for Jane to take a woman out to dinner, and he takes a stab at it. However, their tension skyrockets when a Red John impersonator sends a video to the CBI documenting a slaying. Kristina is very quick to offer her services, while Jane is just as quick to make sure that Hightower rejects them. The case brings the real Red John to the fore, and before Jane knows what has happened, he sees a news broadcast where Kristina is speaking of Red John. Jane has made that mistake in the past and lived with the guilt and anger ever since. He insists that she be placed in custody, though she feels she is safe from Red John. She is snatched from her home right from under the CBI’s noses, and they cannot find her. Meanwhile, Jane uncovers the secret of the false Red John, which brings him into direct contact with the real Red John, who swoops in to save Jane, quoting The Tyger by William Blake. He also informs Jane that Kristina send her love. Jane does not share this information with Lisbon or any other member of the CBI. His latest obsession begins.

Best Episode: His Red Right Hand / Redline

Worst Episode: The Scarlet Letter

No way like a baseball to revisit your past

Rating: 8.5/10. This season was very good. I thoroughly enjoyed Bosco, even when he was being a total chop. He was a good man. This show illustrates how extremely well Red John is connected, and how futile Jane’s attempts seem. I do think that Jane is a great adversary, if anything. Bosco’s death shocked me quite a bit, I didn’t expect them to really kill him, and least of all not so soon in the season, it was madness. No matter how brief his appearance, Bosco was a brilliant character to watch. This season breaks in to the character’s pasts a bit, and it appears that everyone on the team is incredibly messed up from something, with the exception of Van Pelt, who seems predominantly normal in comparison. It was so sad to see Minelli go, he was awesome, and his relationship with Lisbon, Jane and the team was always a source of amusement for me. Hightower is alright, but just not the same flare, though she has other aspects that are highly admirable. Rigsby and Van Pelt had such a brief taste of their relationship, it was rather shocking and sad. Cho remains an all time favourite, even with his past gang relations, they find a way to make it both amusing yet dramatic at the same time. Overall the show was again great because it had all the right elements at the right times that just pulled this off without a hitch. This show has a second solid season entry, well done!