Selma tells of a certain point in the civil rights movement, specifically the struggle to get African Americans registered to vote, and the peaceful march between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, to bring attention to their plight. It has received a lot of attention, especially lately with it failing to get a lot of Oscar love.

The movie is mostly well done. I can’t speak to how historically accurate it is, the events took place before my time and while I consider myself a somewhat history buff, I don’t know the fine details of the civil rights movement. It was a good movie though. The first half felt a little slow and almost rote, just telling the story with little else going on, but the second half more than made up for it. I’m not ashamed to admit the end brought me to tears.

I’m a movie buff, but I admit I’m no expert. However, it does bother me when some movies get a lot of attention simply because of their subject matter. A couple years ago, 12 Years a Slave won a lot of awards, and while I thought it a moving film, it wasn’t the best movie made that year. I was afraid Selma was going to be similar, but I felt it was a much better movie and deserves acclaim. I can’t say the acting was better than the choices the Academy did choose to nominate for the acting parts (and I did see nearly every single actor in those parts last year), but the director most certainly did deserve a nomination. The movie does hit home, despite taking place 50 years ago, we as a people still have a long way to go.

Been awhile since I sat down to a subbed foreign film, though I used to watch quite a few. Today I enjoyed The Lunchbox, an Indian film that came out quietly at the end of 2013. Starring longtime Indian actor Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur of recent Homeland fame, it is the story of a misplaced lunch. Every morning Ila makes lunch for her husband, which is delivered by India’s famed lunch system. However, it starts making it to the wrong desk, and is delivered instead to a nearly retired Saajan. Ila was hoping her extra effort at cooking would grab her straying husband’s attention. While it doesn’t reach her husband, it does revitalize Saajan. He and Ila start passing notes through the lunchbox delivery system.

The film is sweet and touching, in a quiet way. Ila and Saajan begin to confide in each other, Ila about her inattentive and wandering husband, Saajan about his loneliness since the passing of his wife. The two continue to grow closer without ever having met, and the ending is poignant and sincere. A very endearing film.

Book 3 took what seemed like an odd turn in the beginning. Saleem has amnesia and remembers nothing of his past. He is in Pakistan’s army and just sort of going through the motions. Throughout the course of the last chapters, he finds himself and his past, and makes his way back to Bombay where he grew up. He finally faces off against Shiva, the baby he was swapped with at birth, and finds a son of his own to pass his legacy off to.

At first it seems like a great departure from where this tale started, but if you look deeper, it all makes sense and is a good metaphor for many people’s lives. Midnight’s Children started with a lot of hope and dreams, but as Saleem ages, much of what he wanted and longed for fails to develop, and his life in the end matches nothing that he thought he wanted as a youth. As his life changes, so does the way his story is told and the feeling the book gives off. However, even in the end, when (nearly) everyone he has loved is dead and gone, a slice of hope exists. When all of Midnight’s Children have been dealt with by the Indian government, his own child shows a small piece of magic may still exist.

As my first step into reading 100 classics, I think Midnight’s Children has me off to a good start. It is an enjoyable read, in a very different style from what I am used to at least. I especially liked that, as told in first person perspective, the storyteller doesn’t have all the answers. People come in and out of his life and we don’t always know what became of them. Saleem’s tale has lost love, forlorn hope, but ultimately perseverance against insurmountable odds.

The largest of the 3 distinct sections of Midnight’s Children, book 2 begins at Saleem’s birth and concludes when he is 18. Much happens in those 18 years, but the largest events circle around Saleem’s abilities. When he is 10, he discovers he has special powers, as apparently do all children born in India in the hour of her independence. The powers vary from person to person, with those born closest to midnight being the most potent (in Saleem’s perspective anyway). Since he was born at the stroke of 12:00, his are the strongest, and his are those of telepathy. He can see into other’s minds and read their thoughts, even communicate. Unfortunately nothing good seems to come from this supreme power (which he keeps hidden), and everything Saleem touches because of it goes foul, ending in anger, fights, and even deaths. The ultimate defeat is when Saleem decides to out an affair between adult friends, leading to a murder.

Of course a lot of other things happen; as with any family much changes over the course of 18 years. His childhood friends all move away. His immediate family goes through sweeping changes with illness, both physical and mental. His switch at birth is brought to everyone’s attention, with lasting ramifications. In a demoralizing moment, he loses his telepathic powers, before he is given the chance to ever use them for good. Book 2 ends during a war between India and Pakistan, in which very few bombs are dropped, but those that are manage to kill nearly all of Saleem’s family, leaving only his sister with whom he has been estranged.

I must say I enjoyed the first part of the book more. The second third was still good, but seemed to bog down in more metaphors and prophesied revelations than you can count. It wouldn’t have been so noticeable if Rushdie didn’t feel the need to beat us over the head with them at every turn. (“See how this came about? Just as it was before!” or “See how the name is similar to their old friend, and how those similarities existed!”) He really leaves little for us as readers to come to our own conclusions, choosing instead to point out every cause and effect to make sure we miss nothing. Still well written for sure, and I do want to see how Saleem’s life finishes, now that he is alone.

At Middleton is about an improbable coming together of a couple adults while taking their separate kids on a college visit. Andy Garcia’s George is there with his son, and Vera Farmiga’s Edith is visiting with her daughter. The two are quite charming around and towards each other, unfortunately their acting skills are sort of wasted in this predictable romantic comedy. Edith is in an unloving marriage, George is bored with his, and so the two gravitate towards each other over the course of the long day. In the end, nothing for anyone involved turns out the way they expected at the start. The movie is quaint at times, but wanders off course at others, and I’m not sure they really had a target audience in mind when making this one; it can’t decide if it wants to be a When Harry Met Sally or an adult Ferris Bueller. Fairly forgettable, almost as soon as it is over.

I tried to keep a strict “no spoiler” attitude about my movie reviews, but seeings how the books I’ll be reading are at least 25-30 years old, and many much older, I guess I can not worry too much about that. Also, sometimes (like right now) I may be moved to break up my synopses in parts, especially when the book has clear, delineated parts. Sometimes it will feel like a book report, sometimes just my thoughts.

My foray into reading some of the great classics starts with Midnight’s Children, published in 1981 by Salman Rushdie. It (so far) tells the story of the birth of India as an independent nation, through the eyes of fictional biographer Saleem Sinai. Book 1 is the intro leading up to his birth at the exact stroke of midnight when India becomes a country. Saleem is the storyteller, with interjections from his impatient girlfriend (and audience) Padma. Padma provides the glue that tries to keep Saleem on target when his story starts to stray, but for the reader, she is the one that keeps us intrigued and excited for the story, as she herself is.

Saleem starts with his grandfather Aadam Aziz (the similarity between Aadam and Biblical Adam is not lost), a doctor trained in Germany and returned to his homeland. Much is made of Kashmir where he was born, and his bulbous nose, a feature that he will pass on to his family down the line. He falls in love with (or more, falls in love with the idea of) a local wealthy man’s daughter, Naseem. Of course they discover later it isn’t true love, but by then they have 3 daughters and a life together.

Throughout the first course of the novel, Padma interrupts Saleem’s tale, asking things like, “Which daughter is to be your mother?” or whenever a new male enters, “Is that to be your father?” As I said, these keep Saleem on target when his prose starts to go off on a tanget, but it also keeps the reader wanting more. What’s more, Saleem will often end a thought with a snippet glance into the future, some word or sentence that in context doesn’t give the reader any dawning information, but which does keep you wanting to know the whole as-yet-unrealized future.

The 3 daughters take their lives in different ways, with Saleem’s mother (and father) finally introduced in an astounding way. As excitement builds in India towards their coming independence (and among the backdrop of rising tension between the Muslim and Hindu population), Saleem’s birth finally comes. Of course even this comes with a big surprise, so here is where I must say a huge SPOILER ALERT and drop a literary bombshell :

And now we come to it: the noise brought everyone running; my father and his injury grabbed a brief moment of limelight from the two aching mothers, the two, synchronous midnight births – because Vanita had finally been delivered of a baby of remarkable size: “You wouldn’t have believed it,” Dr. Bose said, “It just kept on coming, more and more of the boy forcing its way out, it’s a real ten-chip whopper all right!” And Narlikar, washing himself: “Mine, too.” But that was a little later – just now Narlikar and Bose were tending to Ahmed Sinai’s toe; midwives had been instructed to wash and swaddle the new-born pair; and now Miss Mary Pereira made her contribution.
“Go, go,” she said to poor Flory, “see if you can help. I can do all right here.”
And when she was alone – two babies in her hands – two lives in her power – she did it for Joseph, her own private revolutionary act, thinking He will certainly love me for this, as she changed name-tags on the two huge infants, giving the poor baby a life of privilege and condemning the rich-born child to accordions and poverty… “Love me, Joseph!” was in Mary Pereria’s mind, and then it was done. On the ankle of a ten-chip whopper with eyes as blue as Kashmiri sky – which were also eyes as blue as Methwold’s – and a nose as dramatic as a Kashmiri grandfather’s – which was also the nose of grandmother from France – she placed this name: Sinai.

That is about where the first book of this 3 parter ends. Saleem comes into this world as a person he shouldn’t be to parents he doesn’t belong.

I can’t say enough for Rushdie’s style in this novel. He is extremely descriptive, and wandering in a way that a storyteller would be, and through his meandering keeps the reader riveted. I can’t wait to see how Saleem’s life unfolds.

In 2013, I saw 68 movies at the theater. As the year came to a close, I thought, “That’s 2/3rd’s of the way to 100. I wonder if it is possible.” And I set the goal. 100 movies in one year, for 2014.

It started off easy enough. I saw 9 in January, 10 in February, and 11 each in March and April. Then summer arrived. The thing I never realized before, is once those “Summer Blockbusters” arrive, that’s all the theaters show. Theaters devote a ton of screens to movies like Godzilla, Transformers, and Guardians of the Galaxy, muscling out the smaller indie films that I needed to keep my pace alive. Also around this time, it started to feel less like fun and more like work. There were plenty of Tuesday nights where I just wanted to stay home in my PJ’s, but found myself driving to the theater for a 10:15 showing. I knew it was a one year experiment though, and I would never do something like this again, so I kept chipping away at it.

Over the course of the year, I kept to my rough pace of about 10 a month, and so after a surge in October and December, I finished with a final tally of 122, meaning on average, I was in a theater every 3rd day, all year long. All in all, I did have a blast. I saw some great films, some terrible films, and plenty in between. I saw films I normally would have skipped, but ended up greatly enjoying; I saw films that were highly touted but I thoroughly couldn’t stand. In the end, I saw pretty much every movie I had any inkling of trying, and only skipped the ones I either knew (A) to be terrible, or (B) wouldn’t interest me at all.

And if you have any interest at all, here are some stats :

I saw nearly half of the movies (60) at Ronnie’s, the closest theater to me. It was the easiest to get to on those late night showings! In second place was Des Peres (22), mostly because their weekend morning films start about an hour earlier than Ronnie’s, so it was a good way to get in and get out and still have a big portion of the my day left. All of the rest were seen at : Regal Gravois Bluffs, AMC Creve Coeur, Chase Park Plaza, Landmark Plaza Frontenac, Arnold Wehrenberg, and a couple one-offs at the Galleria, Chesterfield Galaxy, Regal St Louis Mills, and a double feature at the great Skyview drive-in in Belleville. Even saw a film at the Barrywood theater in Kansas City while out of town one weekend.

I saw a great portion of my movies on the weekends, before noon (again, leaving me the rest of my days free). I went back-to-back days 19 times, back-to-back-to-back 4 times, and saw 4 movies in 4 consecutive days three times. Also, only five times did I see 2 movies in the same day.

As for rating the theaters, there really wasn’t one that had “everything.” The comfiest seats contest goes to the Regal in Gravois Bluffs. Nice big chairs that rock back and forth, you have to be careful not to fall asleep! I tended to like the screens best at the AMC in Creve Coeur, they are bright and colorful and just seemed sharper. Des Peres is a crapshoot, sometimes you get the big room with the comfy seats, but more often than not you get a screen in the left back hallway (stadium seating but tight rows and chairs) or the right back hallway (no stadium seating, the travesty!). Though the Chase shows great indie films, the screens and seats are about the worst you’ll find in the area, and you can usually see the same films at Frontenac for a better viewing experience. I almost always picked my showings based on time, so whichever theater was showing my latest film at the time that worked best for my schedule, that’s where I was going. I did the high-end dine-in screen experience once, to celebrate movie #100. The chairs are great, but trying to eat in the dark is too much of a challenge for me.

So what’s next? I’ll still go to the theaters some, but I’m cutting back a lot, and going back to seeing only the movies I really want to see. I’ll have a few Oscar-worthy movies in January that haven’t yet made it to my nearby screens (Selma, American Sniper, Still Alice). I’ll still write movie reviews, but sometimes you won’t read it until it has made it to Redbox, HBO, etc. But my next big goal is books, as you may tell from the change in my blog design here.

If you’ve been following for awhile, you know I read, though not as much as I’d like. So in addition to movie reviews, I’ll be writing my thoughts on some old books. I won’t review the newer stuff I read (I’ll leave out my trashy sci-fi indulgences), but I found a good “100 Classic Novels” list that I’ll be starting. Obviously it is a long term goal, not something I’ll finish in a year or maybe even ten years, but I will get through that list eventually.

Thank you to everyone who read my thoughts this year. Thank you to my wife for prompting, then urging, then forcing me to start this blog and “being creative.” Thank you to Moviepass, for saving me roughly $700 in movie tickets. Thank you to Wehrenberg for heaping free popcorn and soda on me with their loyalty program, and all the workers there that put up with me on a regular basis, especially those late nights when I was sometimes the only person in the theater. I hope everyone reading can come up with your own silly little goals, and can accomplish them, and have fun doing it.

And, of course, the final list : Her · Lone Survivor · American Hustle · Secret Life of Walter Mitty · Nebraska · Inside Llewyn Davis · August Osage County · Jack Ryan · I Frankenstein · Gimme Shelter · Labor Day · Lego Movie · Monuments Men · Robocop · Winter’s Tale · About Last Night · 3 Days to Kill · Endless Love · Pompeii · The Wind Rises · Non-Stop · 300 2 · Mr Peabody & Sherman · Veronica Mars · Need for Speed · Divergent · Enemy · Bad Words · Muppets Most Wanted · Noah · Cesar Chavez · Grand Budapest Hotel · Sabotage · Captain America 2 · Joe · Draft Day · Heaven is for Real · Transcendence · Bears · Brick Mansions · The Other Woman · Amazing Spider Man 2 · Neighbors · Million Dollar Arm · Godzilla · Blended · Belle · Chef · Maleficent · Million Ways to Die in the West · X Men Days of Future Past · Fault in Our Stars · Edge of Tomorrow · 22 Jump Street · Rover · Signal · Transformers 4 · Earth to Echo · Snowpiercer · Jersey Boys · Tammy · Dawn of Planet of the Apes · The Purge 2 · Begin Again · Lucy · Hercules · Wish I Was Here · Guardians of the Galaxy · Boyhood · Most Wanted Man · Into the Storm · Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles · Get on Up · Magic in the Moonlight · Hundred Foot Journey · What If · When the Game Stands Tall · November Man · Giver · The Drop · This is Where I Leave You · Love is Strange · Walk Among the Tombstones · Maze Runner · Skeleton Twins · Gone Girl · Equalizer · Good Lie · Boxtrolls · Guest · Judge · Dracula Untold · Men Woman & Children · Fury · Kill the Messenger · Pride · St Vincent · Dear White People · Before I Go to Sleep · John Wick · Nightcrawler · Interstellar · Laggies · Birdman · Whiplash · Big Hero 6 · Hunger Games Mockingjay 1 · Horrible Bosses 2 · Theory of Everything · Rosewater · Homesman · Exodus · Top Five · Wild · Babadook · Foxcatcher · Hobbit 3 · Gambler · Imitation Game · Unbroken · Big Eyes · Interview

Mired in controversy, The Interview ended up with a very soft roll-out this weekend. This is the film I guess North Korea didn’t want us to see. Maybe they saw something I didn’t, because all I saw was the typical Seth Rogen/James Franco silliness.

I’m sure you’ve heard by now, this film is about Rogen & Franco being tagged by the CIA to assassinate Kim Jong Un. Franco is a tabloid-like reporter, going after silly stories like Rob Lowe is balding, Joseph Gordon Levitt loves puppies, etc, and Rogen is his show’s producer. When Franco reads on Wikipedia that Kim loves his show, he reaches out for an interview. The CIA then approaches the two and basically say, “You know, while you’re there…”

As with most movies with these two, the ridiculousness factor is cranked up a notch, and the whole film from start to finish is just goofy antics, the kind that is really hard to get riled up about. I guess North Korea is upset that their supreme leader is portrayed as a margarita loving, Katy Perry following, chubby man with father issues. The movie is funny if you are up for some mindless humor, but ultimately pretty tame. If it had not received the attention it has, it would probably have had a very quiet run in the theaters, but instead it has become something of a must-watch. The theater I went to was certainly packed for a later-Sunday night showing, and apparently the online rentals and purchases that Sony has made available are setting records. A good 2 hours of laughs if you are up for something frivolous.

Tim Burton has slowed down in recent years, directing only a handful of films in the last 8 or 9 years. Big Eyes is his newest. While it does share some visual and stylistic similarities to his other works, it is in many ways a significant departure, and a well done one at that.

Big Eyes is the based-on-a-true story of Margaret Keane, portrayed here by Amy Adams. An artist who’s works became popular in the 1960’s, Keane’s paintings were credited to her husband Walter for many years. The movie begins with Margaret leaving her first husband and taking her daughter to San Francisco to make her way as an artist. She is struggling to sell portraits, and falls for the charms of Walter Keane, played here by Christoph Waltz, another artist who seems to know all the connections. When a customer one night mistakes him as the artist of Margaret’s works, he takes credit for them all. Cowing Margaret in to going along with it (what art lover would take a woman’s work seriously?), he builds an empire from her paintings.

It is a charming movie, with just enough of the trademark Burton silliness to keep it from getting too bleak during Margaret’s worst moments. It is a very endearing film, and you cheer for her to finally take a stand and claim her work as her own. Adams and Waltz are both spectacular.